美国国家公共电台 NPR Michael Flynn Asks For No Prison Time, Cites Help He Gave Special Counsel

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Michael Flynn is asking for no prison time. That is a request made by lawyers for the former national security adviser 1. In 2016, Flynn was a retired 2 general passionately 3 supporting Donald Trump 4 for president. He led chants of lock her up regarding Hillary Clinton on live TV at the Republican convention. In 2017, he served as national security adviser for 24 days. He later pleaded guilty about, a year ago, to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. So what's the case not to lock him up? NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson is here. Hi there, Carrie.

CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE 5: Hi, Steve.

INKSEEP: What does the court filings say from Flynn's lawyers?

JOHNSON: Basically, Michael Flynn's lawyers say he's a good man who made a bad choice. They talk about how Flynn has 33 years of military service, including five years in combat zones, that he received a lot of commendations and that once he made a bad choice, he tried to make it right, that he's been cooperating extensively with the special counsel, 19 meetings, over 62 hours, telling them firsthand details about the term transition, contacts with Russians and a whole bunch of other stuff.

INKSEEP: You said made a bad choice. In this sentencing document, is Flynn taking full responsibility for that choice to lie to the FBI?

JOHNSON: You know, the lawyers say he is taking responsibility for making a bad decision and breaking the law, but then they go on to cite a couple of very interesting paragraphs - the circumstances surrounding his January 27 interview with two FBI agents in the White House. The lawyers talk about how then-FBI Deputy Director Andy McCabe called Flynn up on the phone. They were chatting. McCabe said, listen; we got to ask you some questions about Russian contacts. I'm going to send some agents over there. You can have a lawyer, but it'll be complicated and take time. And Flynn says, no, no, just send them over. And so Flynn, in a very relaxed way, offers to give these FBI agents a tour of the White House, then talks to them, and in the course of that interview, he lied about his contacts with the then-Russian ambassador in late 2016 in the course of the term transition.

INKSEEP: Are they saying that by waving off a lawyer, he somehow innocently was trapped into lying? Is that where they're going with this?

JOHNSON: The lawyers don't go so far as to mount some kind of entrapment 6 case, but they are offering some suggestions if the judge who's ultimately going to sentence Mike Flynn next week wants to grab at those. Of course, President Trump and some of his allies have been beating up on the FBI since 2016. Remember; the FBI deputy director, Andy McCabe, was fired by the Trump administration, as was another agent who actually participated in Lynn's questioning, Peter Strzok. So if the judge wants to go there, this may come up at the sentencing next week.

INKSEEP: Now, we should note something else that you said is in that document - 33 years of military service. This is something that has been noticed by the prosecutors 7 also. I believe there was a document from the prosecutors the other day where they said that Flynn was different than a lot of the other people or even every other person that they've had to deal with in that he has so many years of meritorious 8 service.

JOHNSON: Absolutely. Flynn has a pretty sterling 9 government record before this bad incident and that although two people prosecuted 10 by the special counsel team for lying to the FBI have served some prison time - 30 days or 14 days in the case of George Papadopoulos - Michael Flynn truly cooperated with authorities. And authorities say they'd be OK if he served little or no prison time. He's asking for probation 11.

INKSEEP: One other Michael to ask about - Michael Cohen, the president's former lawyer. He's sentenced today. He's likely to get some jail time?

JOHNSON: Very different situation. Prosecutors in New York say he deserves substantial prison time, that he did not come clean with them.

INKSEEP: Carrie, thanks for the update, appreciate it.

JOHNSON: My pleasure.

INKSEEP: That's NPR national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson.

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