Today we're going to find out what kind of sentence special counsel Robert Mueller's office thinks former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn should get for lying to the FBI. While we wait, a thread on how we got here and what to look out for:
Flynn, you may recall, was Trump's first national security adviser. He lasted less than a month, and resigned in Feb. 2017 amid scrutiny over whether he misled VP Pence and other administratioon officials about his contacts with now-former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak
Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents on Jan. 24, 2017, about his comms with Kislyak — specifically, requests he made that Russia not escalate things in response to new US sanctions, and that Russia delay a vote or vote against a UN resolution on Israeli settlements
Two days after Flynn talked to the FBI, then-acting AG Sally Yates briefed the White House about DOJ's concerns that Flynn lied to Pence and others, and that this could make him vulnerable to blackmail by Russia (Yates testified in May 2017 about this): buzzfeednews.com/article/emmalo…
On Feb. 13, 2017, Flynn submitted his resignation, saying in his letter to the White House that he "inadvertantly briefed" Pence and others "with incomplete information": assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5410…
Fast-forward to Dec. 1, 2017, when Flynn appeared in federal court in DC to plead guilty to one count of making false statements to the FBI about his Kislyak conversations. He agreed to cooperate, and has remained free while that was going on buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Things were quiet in the case until July, when the judge called everyone to court to get an in-person update on how things were going. Flynn's lawyer said at the time that Flynn was "eager" to be done (but not ready for sentencing yet)
Finally on Sept. 17, the lawyers told the judge that they were ready for sentencing. The govt's sentencing memo is due today (there was never any indication anyone was thinking of trying to file under seal, fwiw), and Flynn's memo is due Dec. 11. His sentencing is set for Dec. 18
Per Flynn's plea deal with Mueller's office, his estimated sentencing guidelines range is zero to six months in prison (maximum is five years). So the big question is, will the government push for prison time?
Something to watch for: two other Mueller defendants also pleaded guilty to making false statements — Alex van der Zwaan and George Papadopoulos — and both got prison time (30 days for VDZ and 14 days for Papadopoulos). Judges consider how defendants in similar cases have fared
We're also expecting two more big filings from Mueller's office this week. On Friday, they'll file a sentencing memo about Michael Cohen, AND a report in Paul Manafort's DC case with more information about the allegations that Manafort lied after signing his plea deal
As an aside, court docs are presumptively public (hooray!), and lawyers can't just decide on their own to file under seal. There's been no discussion, in court or in filings, about the possibility of the Flynn/Cohen sentencing memos or the Manafort report being filed under seal
That's all I've got for now, stay tuned!
Oh sorry one more — the Flynn sentencing memo is due today, but the judge didn't impose a time-specific deadline, so it could come in anytime
