President Trump's legal team plans to cast former national security advisor
Michael T Flynn as a liar seeking to protect himself if he accuses the
president or his senior aides of any wrongdoing according to three people
familiar with the strategy the approach would mark a sharp break
from trumps previously sympathetic posture toward Flynn whom he called a
wonderful man when Flynn was ousted from the White
House in February earlier this month the President did not rule out a possible
pardon for Flynn who is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert s Mueller III's
investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election attorneys for Trump
and his top advisers have privately expressed confidence that Flynn does not
have any evidence that could implicate the president or his White House team
but since Flynn's cooperation agreement with prosecutors was made public earlier
this month the administration has been strategizing how to neutralize him in
case the former national security adviser does make any claims Flynn is
the most senior former Trump adviser known to be providing information to
Mueller's team the lenient terms of his plea agreements suggest he has promised
significant information to investigators legal experts said
earlier this month he pleaded guilty to one felony count of lying to to the FBI
a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison prosecutors said
they will recommend a sentence from zero to six months in prison as part of his
cooperation deal Flynn's son who served as his chief of
staff also faced the risk of criminal charges according to people familiar
with the plea negotiations but was spared Trump's legal team has ceased on
Flynn's agreement with prosecutors as fodder for a possible defense if
necessary in court filings the retired lieutenant general admitted that he lied
to the FBI about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the
United States during the December 2016 transition he said it himself he's a
liar said one person helping craft the strategy who was granted anonymity to
describe private conversations Robert Keller an attorney for Flynn declined to
comment Ty Cobb the White House attorney
overseeing the response to the Special Counsel investigation also declined to
comment defense lawyers have said privately that Flynn will be unable to
point to White House or campaign records turned over in the probe to bolster any
claims of a criminal scheme none of those records suggest a conspiracy by
Trump or his inner circle to improperly work with Russians to defeat Democratic
candidate Hillary Clinton according to people who have reviewed the documents
the private talks about assailing Flynn's credibility come even as Trump
has signaled that a pardon is not off the table
I don't want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet the president said
December 15th we'll see what happens let's see I can say this when you look
at what's gone on with the FBI and with the Justice Department people are very
very angry some of Flynn's family members appear to be counting on Trump
to act on Tuesday one of Flynn's brothers tweeted a message urging the
President to pardon his former advisor responding to a tweet by Trump alleging
bias in the FBI mr. president I personally believe that a pardon is due
to general Flynn given the apparent and obvious illegitimate of the manner in
which the so called crimes he plead guilty to were extracted from him Joseph
Flynn wrote I ask for quick action on this thank you and keep up the good work
Joseph Flynn did not respond to requests for comment
outside legal experts said that discussing ways to undermine a possible
witness is a natural first step for defense lawyers to consider
it's pretty predictable said Randall de liason a former public corruption
prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office in Washington defense will always argue
that a cooperator who lied previously should not be believed and that there is
insufficient evidence of the conspiracy its defense strategy 101 he added how
effective it would be depends entirely on the strength of the other evidence
that the prosecution can present to prove its case and corroborate Flynn
Barbara Van Gelder a veteran white-collar defense lawyer and former
prosecutor called it textbook for the defense team to raise doubts about
Flynn's version of events they will pull out all the arguments you pleaded guilty
you don't have anything more than your word and you probably got your son off
with this you got the deal of the century she said
securing documents that corroborate the statements of co-operators such as Flynn
is often key when the case comes down to dueling accounts legal experts said
people's recollections can be faulty but you can't cross-examine a document Van
Gelder said it is what it is exactly what Flynn might offer Mueller
about what he saw inside the Trump operation remains a mystery Van Gelder
noted that in the way the special counsel structured Flynn's plea
agreement prosecutors avoided sharing the guts of
their ongoing investigation that is what I thought was the brilliance of the
Flynn plea she said it said I'm giving just enough to have the judge sentence
you within the guidelines but not giving anything to anybody else White House
advisors have noted Flynn did not plead guilty to being a co-conspirator in any
criminal scheme which they argue shows he is not able to provide evidence of a
larger conspiracy some legal experts said prosecutors could still rely on
Flynn's testimony to allege such a scheme however others said persuading a
jury to charge a conspiracy that did not include a key witness would be more
difficult if Mueller opted not to charge him in a conspiracy Van Gelder asked how
much of a crime is it really
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