Flynn may seek to relitigate case
Ex-trump adviser asks judge to push back his sentencing
Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, the president’s first national security adviser, asked a federal judge Friday to delay his sentencing in an apparent bid to relitigate the case in which he has twice admitted guilt.
The latest move by the defense lawyers could anger the federal judge who will sentence him, Emmet G. Sullivan, who might have lingering doubts about whether Flynn truly accepts responsibility for his crime of lying to the FBI and whether he fulfilled his cooperation agreement with the government in one of the stilllingering cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Sullivan already rebuked Flynn for suggesting in earlier court papers that the FBI had tricked him into lying when agents questioned him at the White House in January 2017 as part of the Russia investigation.
The judge then delayed Flynn’s sentencing in December 2018 so he could testify for the government against a former business partner, Bijan Kian, to maximize the help that Flynn was providing to prosecutors.
But Flynn changed his story on the eve of Kian’s trial on charges of violating foreign lobbying laws. Flynn had previously admitted that he, too, lied on foreign lobbying disclosure forms submitted to the Justice Department but then, in an unusual turn of events, blamed his former lawyers for filing inaccurate forms without his knowledge.
Prosecutors declined to use Flynn as a witness in the trial of Kian, who was convicted in July, prompting questions about how Sullivan would determine whether Flynn had fulfilled his obligations to help the government as part of his plea deal for a more lenient sentence.
Flynn’s change of course has heightened speculation that he could be making a bid for a pardon from the president. A former personal lawyer for Trump broached the prospect with a previous lawyer for Flynn two years ago as the special counsel was closing in on charging him, raising questions about whether the president’s lawyer was trying to influence Flynn’s decision to cooperate with the special counsel.
The government had previously recommended a punishment of probation without prison time for Flynn, but the judge could decide to sentence him to prison if he believes that Flynn lacked contrition and failed to live up to his obligations.
Sullivan had said he was disgusted that Flynn illegally lied to FBI agents and did so in the White House. During Flynn’s interview, FBI agents noted his easy demeanor, which struck them as odd because he lied so blatantly.