Special Counsel Robert Mueller has urged a federal judge to reject an attempt by Michael Flynn “to minimise the seriousness” of him lying to the FBI.
Mr Mueller’s team was responding to a sentencing memo from Flynn’s lawyers criticising the FBI interviews with their client, saying agents did not provide him “with a warning of the penalties” for misleading investigators.
This comes just two days after former lawyer and fixer for Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in jail.
“A sitting National Security Adviser, former head of an intelligence agency, retired Lieutenant General, and 33-year veteran of the armed forces knows he should not lie to federal agents,” Mr Mueller's office said in its court filing.
“He does not need to be warned it is a crime to lie to federal agents to know the importance of telling them the truth.”
Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI agents about his conversations with Russia's then-ambassador, Sergei Kislyak, and has been cooperating with Mr Mueller's probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between Moscow and Trump campaign officials.
The FBI interview took place on 24 january 2017, soon after Mr Trump took office.
In the filing Mueller said Flynn lied to the media and senior administration officials in the weeks leading up to the interview, telling them he had not discussed US sanctions against Russia with Mr Kislyak when in fact he had.
“Thus, by the time of the FBI interview, the defendant was committed to his false story,” Mr Mueller's prosecutors wrote.
Mueller's filing was in response to an order by the judge to turn over documents related to the interview.
That order, in turn, followed a sentencing memo earlier this week by Flynn's lawyers in which they argued for leniency.
As mitigating factors, Flynn's lawyers cited both the lack of a warning about lying and a suggestion by then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to Flynn that the “quickest way” to conduct the interview was without counsel present.
Reuters
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But prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller say Flynn had lied to the White House about his contacts with the Russian ambassador well before the January 2017 interview and merely repeated the same falsehoods when approached by the FBI.
Mr Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced next week for lying to the FBI.
As part of the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign over election meddling, Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has filed a two-part sentencing memo for Michael Flynn with a recommendation for a light sentence that has major implications for the probe.
You can read more about what this sentencing recommendation may mean for President Trump here:
On Tuesday, Flynn's legal team asked for the judge to sentence the 60-year-old Flynn to one year of minimally supervised probation and 200 hours of community service.
That request came a week after the special counsel recommended that Flynn receive a sentence “at the low end” of his guideline range of zero to six months in jail.
From April through to September, the special counsel's office directly accounted for $4.6 million in expenses. Another $3.9 million was spent by other government officers supporting the investigation. That adds to the more than $16.7 million spent through March.
About $2.9 million went toward salaries and benefits. The special counsel also spent about $580,000 on travel.
The sentencing memo from Flynn's lawyers also noted that the general felt "genuine contrition" for his "uncharacteristic error in judgment" when he made the false statements.
"The defendant undoubtedly was aware, in light of his ‘many years’ working with the FBI, that lying to the FBI carries serious consequences.”
Mr Mueller's office said Flynn had lied several times to White House officials about his dialogue with ambassador Sergey Kislyak and simply repeated those falsehoods when approached by the FBI on Jan. 24, 2017. They said Flynn agreed to meet with the FBI without a lawyer present and, unlike other defendants charged in Mueller's investigation, had enough experience in government to understand the consequences of lying and "the importance of accurate information to decision making in areas of national security."
"A sitting National Security Advisor, former head of an intelligence agency, retired Lieutenant General, and 33-year veteran of the armed forces knows he should not lie to federal agents," Mueller's prosecutors wrote. "He does not need to be warned it is a crime to lie to federal agents to know the importance of telling them the truth."
Flynn's supporters have seized on the fact that the FBI agents who questioned him did not detect signs of deception during the interview. But prosecutors say that doesn't change the fact "that he was indeed lying, and knowingly made false statements to FBI agents in a national security investigation."
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