A federal judge today postponed the sentencing of Michael Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, after warning Flynn that he could face prison for lying to federal investigators about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition and hiding his role lobbying for Turkey.
At Flynn’s sentencing hearing in Washington, Judge Emmet Sullivan called Flynn’s crimes “a very serious offense” and said he was not hiding his “disgust” at what Flynn had done.
“All along you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser,” the judge told Flynn. “Arguably that undermines everything that this flag over here stands for. Arguably you sold your country out.”
Later in the hearing, the judge walked back his harsh comments.
Sullivan made abundantly clear throughout the proceedings that he viewed the crimes admitted to by Flynn as extraordinarily serious and a betrayal of the trust placed in him as a high-ranking White House official.
At one point he even asked prosecutors if Flynn might have committed treason. (The prosecutor in the case, Brandon Van Grack, said no.)
Sullivan then gave Flynn the option of delaying the sentencing until he had completed his cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors.
“I cannot assure that if you proceed today you will not receive a sentence of incarceration,” Sullivan told Flynn.
After a short recess, in a surprise move, Flynn returned to the courtroom to take the judge up on his offer.
Flynn faces up to six months in prison, but federal prosecutors have recommended a lenient sentence, including the possibility of probation, because he has provided “substantial help” with multiple criminal inquiries.
During the sentencing hearing, Sullivan questioned Flynn and his lawyer about their earlier suggestion that F.B.I. agents might have tricked Flynn by failing to inform him before they interviewed him nearly two years ago that lying to them would constitute a federal crime.
Flynn told the court that he was not challenging the circumstances of the interview and that he knew lying to the F.B.I. was a crime.
In doing so, Flynn distanced himself from Mr. Trump’s efforts to suggest misconduct by the F.B.I. in the investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller.
Earlier, Trump had wished Flynn “good luck” in a Twitter post.
Good luck today in court to General Michael Flynn. Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign. There was no Collusion!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2018
Flynn’s son responded.
Thank you Mr. President.#KeepAmericaGreat https://t.co/ijzH9Dz7VR
— Michael Flynn Jr⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@mflynnJR) December 18, 2018
Flynn is the highest-ranking aide to Trump to face sentencing in the special counsel’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and the Trump campaign.
His case has marked an extraordinary fall from grace for a retired three-star general who once headed one of the nation’s most important military intelligence operations, the Defense Intelligence Agency.