Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's attorneys asked a federal judge on Tuesday night to spare Flynn a jail sentence, asking for probation and community service.
Flynn pleaded guilty this month to making false statements to the FBI about his communications with Russia. He was the first senior White House official to be charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Moscow's interference in the 2016 presidential election, and he was the first to officially agree to cooperate with investigators.
In a sentencing memorandum filed last week, federal prosecutors, themselves, told U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan that Flynn should receive little to no prison time because he had provided "substantial assistance" in Mueller's investigation that "likely affected the decisions of related firsthand witnesses to be forthcoming.”
Flynn is scheduled to be on Dec. 18; federal guidelines call for a term of up to six months in prison.
In their own memorandum, filed Tuesday night in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., attorneys for Flynn asked that he be sentenced to probation with minimal supervision and to 200 hours of community service.
"General Flynn’s respect for the law is demonstrated by his decision to accept responsibility for his actions soon after the Special Counsel's Office reached out to him and sought his cooperation," they wrote in the 178-page document, which includes numerous letters of testimonial from supporters.
"Even when circumstances later came to light that prompted extensive public debate about the investigation of General Flynn, including revelations that certain FBI officials involved in the January 24 interview of General Flynn were themselves being investigated for misconduct, General Flynn did not back away from accepting responsibility for his actions," they wrote.
Flynn's attorneys also invoked his long military and government service record. Flynn is a retired Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
In light of such service, they wrote, "a sentence of non-incarceration is both appropriate and warranted."
