WASHINGTON _ Michael Flynn, a retired Army general who played a key role in Donald Trump's presidential campaign and then served briefly as White House national security adviser, has provided "substantial assistance" to investigators in the Russia case and should be spared prison time for lying to FBI agents, prosecutors told a federal court Tuesday.
Flynn pleaded guilty last December to lying to federal agents about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition, falsely claiming that they did not discuss U.S. sanctions.
"A sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration ... is appropriate and warranted," prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III wrote in a sentencing memo to U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.
Flynn is the only member of Trump's White House team who has been charged in an investigation that the president has relentlessly denounced as a "hoax" and a "witch hunt."
As part of his plea deal, Flynn agreed to cooperate with the special counsel's office, which has so far charged or obtained guilty pleas from 33 individuals, including several of Trump's former senior aides and associates.
Mueller hasn't cited any information provided by Flynn in any of his court proceedings, leaving unclear what type of help he was providing. But on Tuesday prosecutors said Flynn had provided "substantial assistance."
Defense lawyers will have their own opportunity to make a recommendation to the judge before he is sentenced on Dec. 18.
Flynn, 59, served 33 years in the Army and helped lead high-profile efforts to overhaul military intelligence operations as U.S. forces struggled against insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He later returned to Washington and led the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, but he was pushed out after clashing with other members of President Barack Obama's administration in 2014.
The former lieutenant general became one of Trump's most vocal and visible supporters during the 2016 campaign. At the Republican National Convention, he said Hillary Clinton should be jailed for her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, leading chants to "lock her up."
After the election, Flynn joined Trump's White House as national security adviser, a pivotal role that gave him access to the nation's most sensitive secrets. But he soon became a target in the Russia investigation, and he was ousted after only three weeks on the job.
His departure came after the Justice Department warned the White House that he could be vulnerable to blackmail because he misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia's ambassador in Washington.
Flynn also lied in an interview with FBI agents. He falsely denied telling Kislyak that Russia should not retaliate when the Obama administration enacted sanctions to punish Moscow for interfering in the election by spreading disinformation on social media and hacking Democratic Party emails.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would not get even with its own sanctions, Kislyak called Flynn to say the decision was in response to his request, according to court documents.
James B. Comey, then the FBI director, said later that Trump asked him to end the investigation into Flynn.
"I hope you can let this go," he recalled the president saying the day after Flynn let the White House.
Although Trump has denied asking Comey to drop the investigation, Mueller is investigating whether the president sought to obstruct justice in that case or others.
After pleading guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, Flynn has kept a relatively low profile, making a handful of appearances at conservative events or stumping for the occasional Republican candidate.
"I'm not here to complain about who has done me wrong," Flynn said at a GOP campaign event in California in March. "Or how unfair I've been treated. Or how unfair the entire process has been. It is what it is."
Prosecutors' recommendation for Flynn's sentence stands in contrast to the hard line they took with George Papadopoulos, a former low-level campaign foreign policy adviser, who also pleaded guilty to making false statements last year and hoped to avoid prison time.
In a memo, prosecutors said Papadopoulos was unhelpful after he agreed to cooperate. They also complained that he harmed the Russia probe by lying about his overseas contacts, making it more difficult for investigators to follow up with a key figure in the case.
Papadopoulos was later sentenced to 14 days in prison, and he was imprisoned Nov. 26.
