Dec. 14 (UPI) — Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss any arguments made by President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor Michael Flynn that “attempt to minimize” his illegal acts leading into his sentencing next week.
“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. 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,” the memo read.
The memo, submitted Friday by the special counsel’s office, is a response to a request by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan for more information on what happened during the January interview.
On Tuesday, Sullivan received a memo from Flynn’s attorneys saying their client didn’t get a proper warning before a 2017 interview with agents that lying to the FBI is a crime.
Last year, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe called Flynn and suggested he talk with two FBI agents to talk about his communication with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. McCabe also told Flynn that if he brought his lawyer to the meeting the Justice Department would have to attend as well. At the time, Flynn was the working in the White House as the national security advisor
On January 24, 2017, the meeting finally took place just Flynn and the two agents, during which they asked Flynn questions about Kislyak. According to the memo, after Flynn gave false statements about knowing the Russian Ambassador the agents gave him multiple chances to correct his statements.
Two weeks after the meeting, Flynn was fired for lying to the FBI and lying to Vice President Mike Pence.
Last year, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about communicating with Kislyak. After the FBI charged Flynn, he agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation.
“Nothing about the way the interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI on January 24,” the special counsel’s memo read.
In a memo, Flynn’s attorneys asked the judge for probation and community service instead of prison for their client. Last week, the special counsel’s office recommended little to no jail time due to his cooperation. Flynn met with the special counsel’s office 19 times regarding matters that include Mueller’s investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“The interviewing agents did not observe indicia of deception and had the impression at that time that the defendant was not lying or did not think he was lying,” the special counsel wrote. “Those misimpressions do not change the fact-as the defendant has admitted in sworn testimony to this District Court-that he was indeed lying, and knowingly made false statements to FBI agents in a national security investigation.”
Flynn is expected scheduled to be sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Dec. 18.
