Special counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday effectively recommended that Michael Flynn receive no prison time for lying to the FBI, citing the former national security advisor’s “substantial assistance” in the Russia probe and other Department of Justice (DOJ) cases.
“Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth below, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range — including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration — is appropriate and warranted,” Mueller wrote in a court filing submitted Tuesday night.
Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, met with the special counsel’s office or other prosecutors in the DOJ 19 times since pleading guilty Dec. 1, 2017.
Flynn acknowledged in the guilty plea to making false statements to the FBI about his conversations in December 2016 with Sergey Kislyak, who then served as Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.
He will be sentenced in the case Dec. 18.
Flynn admitted to falsely claiming in a Jan. 24, 2017, interview at the White House that in a Dec. 29, 2016, phone conversation with Kislyak, the topic of sanctions against the Russian government were not discussed.
Flynn also lied by denying that on Dec. 22, 2016, he asked Kislyak to delay a vote on a UN Security Council resolution related to Israel.
Flynn was also under DOJ investigation over his lobbying work for the Turkish government. Flynn filed March 7, 2017, as a foreign agent of the Turkish government for work he did from August 2016 through just after the election. In his plea agreement, Flynn acknowledged making false statements in paperwork he filed with the DOJ regarding his lobbying activities.
Flynn will be the second Trump associate to be sentenced in the Mueller investigation. George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide, was sentenced to 14 days in prison Sept. 7 for lying to the FBI about his contacts during the campaign with a Maltese professor he believed had links to the Russian government.
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