Mueller defends FBI over its interviews of Flynn.

Washington (AP) — The special counsel’s office pushed back Friday at the suggestion that the FBI acted improperly in its interview of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying he “chose to make false statements” and did not need a special warning that it was against the law to do so.

The filing from special counsel Robert Mueller came four days before Flynn gets sentenced on a charge of lying to the FBI about his conversations with the then-Russian ambassador to the United States. It responds to a sentencing memorandum filed earlier this week by Flynn’s lawyers that suggested irregularities in how he was interviewed.

The back-and-forth between prosecutors and defense lawyers has created an unusual rupture in an otherwise harmonious relationship as prosecutors have praised Flynn as a model cooperator and have recommended no prison time at his sentencing.

The disagreement is unlikely to affect Flynn’s chances for probation, but it’s attracted the attention of President Donald Trump, who said this week that Flynn did not lie despite having fired him nearly two years ago for just that reason. The matter may also become a point of debate at next Tuesday’s hearing, especially since the judge, Emmet Sullivan, has asked prosecutors to produce documents related to Flynn’s interview.

They did so Friday as they said “nothing about the way the interview the way was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI.”

Prosecutors said Flynn had committed to a false story weeks before the Jan. 24, 2017, interview with the FBI, having lied several times already to officials about his dialogue with ambassador Sergey Kislyak and then repeating those falsehoods to federal agents.