FLYNN TALKED, SHOULD WALK
MUELLER SAYS NO JAIL
Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Trump, should be spared any jail time because he has provided “substantial assistance” in the investigation into Russian election interference, special counsel Robert Mueller said Tuesday.
In a long-awaited sentencing memo, Mueller argued Flynn should remain a free man because he has provided crucial cooperation over the course of 19 interviews with investigators since pleading guilty last year to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Kremlin officials during the presidential transition.
Flynn has also assisted the Justice Department with at least two other confidential criminal investigations, in addition to Mueller’s probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin during the 2016 election, the special counsel said.
Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 18.
Most of the memo was redacted because it contains “sensitive information,” Mueller said.
In particular, he commended Flynn on the “timeliness” of his cooperation, and suggested his guilty plea influenced others in the Russia investigation to be forthcoming.
“The defendant began providing information to the government not long after the government first sought his cooperation,” Mueller’s team said in the filing. “His early cooperation was particularly valuable because he was one of the few people with long-term and firsthand insight regarding events and issues under investigation.”
Flynn, 59, became the first and only White House official ensnared in Mueller’s probe when he copped a plea deal with the special counsel in December 2017 amid revelations he had misled FBI agents about his contacts with Sergey Kislyak, former Russian ambassador to the U.S.
Flynn’s discussions with Kislyak were part of a coordinated effort by transition leaders to rewrite foreign policy before Trump officially took power, according to the special counsel’s office.
Mueller said Flynn shed crucial light on “interactions between the transition team” and Russian officials.