Mueller Seeks to Have Flynn Sentenced as Soon as Nov. 28
Mueller Seeks to Have Flynn Sentenced as Soon as Nov. 28
(Bloomberg) -- Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is set to be sentenced for lying to federal agents in an indication that his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller is finished.
Flynn has been cooperating with the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election since he pleaded guilty in December. His sentencing has been repeatedly delayed but on Monday lawyers for both sides told U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan that they’re available for a sentencing hearing on Nov. 28 or any of the following seven business days.
Flynn faces sentencing for one criminal count that’s punishable by as long as five years years in prison. Two others who admitted to lying to investigators in Mueller’s probe ended up with light sentences even though they didn’t cooperate with prosecutors. George Papadopoulos, a foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, was sentenced to 14 days in jail and lawyer Alex van der Zwaan got 30 days.
According to federal guidelines, Flynn could face as long as six months behind bars, although he’s likely to seek no prison time because he helped Mueller’s investigation.
Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Flynn is done cooperating with Mueller’s probe.
Flynn acknowledged lying to investigators about a series of conversations he had with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak in December 2016 as Trump and his transition team prepared for the presidency.
Those talks were instigated by the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a White House senior adviser, Bloomberg News reported then. The retired general asked Kislyak to help delay or defeat a UN Security Council vote concerning Israel. About a week later, the men discussed just-imposed Obama administration sanctions upon Russia.
In court, Flynn said he called a senior transition team official at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for guidance, before asking Kislyak to moderate Russia’s response, which the country did. He then called transition team members to tell them what had transpired.
He also admitted to lying in registration documents about lobbying work he did for the Turkish government, though he was not charged with that offense.
Flynn resigned on Feb. 13, 2016 after only 24 days on the job. In his resignation letter he apologized to the president and vice president for giving them “incomplete information” about his interactions with the Russian ambassador.
The case is U.S. v. Flynn, 17-cr-232, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider
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