Two weeks ago, U.S. prosecutors recommended that Flynn serve up to six months in prison, reversing their earlier recommendation of probation after Flynn stepped up his attacks against the FBI and the Justice Department.
Flynn 61, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying about his communications with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition, becoming the highest-ranking Trump official charged and one of the first to cooperate with Mueller’s office.
Flynn faces up to a five-year prison term under the charge, which includes his misrepresentation of work advancing the interests of the Turkish government.
Before his initially scheduled sentencing in December 2018, Flynn and federal prosecutors had agreed he deserved probation in return for his “substantial assistance” in several investigations.
But Flynn moved to postpone sentencing after U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington, D.C., warned he might impose prison time and lambasted Flynn’s defense team at the time for appearing to play down his offenses.
The idea behind a delay was for Flynn to continue to show his good-faith cooperation. Since then, however, the case has become entangled in mutual recriminations.
Flynn unsuccessfully raised claims last fall that he had been duped into pleading guilty to lying to FBI agents about his Russian contacts after the 2016 U.S. election. The government then revoked its request for leniency.
Prosecutors cited his “apparent failure to accept responsibility” and alleged he sought to undermine the prosecution of his former lobbying firm business partner, Bijan Rafiekian, over their work involving Turkey — the matter that Flynn’s defense attorney Sidney Powell now disputes.
Last week, in asking to withdraw Flynn’s plea, Powell accused the government of “vindictiveness,” alleging the former general was being punished for telling the truth and asserting he was innocent overall.
“There should be no sentencing,” Powell repeated in Wednesday’s 22-page filing. But if it goes forward, Powell said the government should be punished for allegedly coercing false testimony from Flynn.
If the government’s request for prison time is granted, “it will send a dangerous message to cooperators — give testimony consistent with the government’s theory of the case, regardless of veracity, or pay the price with your freedom,” Powell said.
She added that Flynn dedicated his life to serving his country.
“While the defendants in other cases cited by the government were working to benefit themselves, Mr. Flynn wrote a blank check on his life and put himself in harm’s way for more than five years in foreign deployments and thirty-three years of service to protect all Americans,” Powell wrote.
Flynn is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 27, but there are deadlines before then to litigate his request to revoke his guilty plea. A judge must accept any change in plea.
Flynn has previously admitted under oath that he made misstatements to Vice President Pence, senior White House aides, federal investigators and the news media before and after Trump’s January 2017 inauguration about the nature of his foreign contacts.
Flynn resigned that February after serving 24 days as national security adviser.