Former US National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn arrives for his sentencing hearing at US District Court in Washington, DC on December 18, 2018. Federal prosecutors want to use Michael Flynn's former defense lawyers against him as they resist his attempts to get out of his guilty plea for lying to the FBI in 2017.
The court filing from prosecutors on Sunday could bring a new and consequential twist in the Flynn case, aligning the Justice Department and a major force in DC's legal establishment against President Donald Trump's first national security adviser. The filings even hint that DOJ would be willing to charge Flynn with perjury, or to take Flynn to trial if the judge allowed him to change his plea to not guilty .
In his guilty plea deal, Flynn admitted to lying to FBI agents interviewing him in the White House about his late-2016 conversations with the then-Russian ambassador. The episode ultimately led to his departure from the Trump administration, a series of events where special counsel Robert Mueller investigated Trump for obstruction of justice, and Flynn sharing extensive information about the President and his 2016 campaign with Mueller.
As his sentencing approaches later this month , Flynn has claimed his former attorneys, from the law firm Covington & Burling, withheld information from him and pressured him into taking a plea deal during the Mueller's investigation. Flynn now claims he is innocent of lying to investigators, a crime to which he pleaded guilty two years ago. Michael Flynn should get up to 6 months in jail for lying to FBI, prosecutors say But the prosecutors, from the DC US Attorney's Office, asked District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Sunday to give Covington permission to counter Flynn's claims, according to a new court filing. If allowed, the defense lawyers could even be called to testify against Flynn in future court proceedings, the prosecutors noted.
Flynn's recent moves to unravel his plea "put the representation of his former attorneys directly at issue," prosecutors wrote in a filing Sunday. "To make certain and clear that counsel may take the necessary steps to vindicate their public reputation by addressing and defending against the defendant's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, and equally to vindicate the integrity of this Court's previous proceedings, the government asks this Court to" allow Covington to discuss its representation of Flynn with the prosecutors, the court and potentially in a public hearing.
Prosecutors wrote in a second court filing on Sunday they believe Covington would be willing to share information about Flynn if the judge orders that they can.
Previously, following Flynn's accusations against his former attorneys, a spokesman for Covington told CNN, "Under bar rules, we are limited in our ability to respond publicly even to allegations of this nature, absent the client's consent or a court order."
Flynn has so far won delays for his sentencing several times by telling new stories to the court. Some have been unproven conspiracy theories that the Justice Department and judge later shot down.
This Piece Originally Appeared in www.cnn.com
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