Trump’s ex-adviser Flynn moves to withdraw guilty plea in Mueller investigation – court papers

The former national security advisor to the US president, General Michael Flynn, has asked the court to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming Russiagate prosecutors forced him to lie and make statements they knew were untrue.

In a court filing on Tuesday, lawyers for Flynn argued that the prosecutors “concocted the alleged ‘false statements’” the general was accused of making in relation to his company’s violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

“The prosecutors concocted the alleged ‘false statements’ by their own misrepresentations, deceit, and omissions.”

The newly-released court papers state that Flynn “had long told the prosecutors” working on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team that he had learned “much” about his supposed transgressions “with the benefit of hindsight” and “that any problems with the FARA filing were not known to him at the time.”

Flynn’s legal team specifically argues that Assistant US Attorney Brandon Van Grack, who negotiated the plea deal, not only demanded the ex-adviser provide false testimony, but knew perfectly well that what he wanted Flynn to do was lie to the authorities.

The document says that once Flynn changed his legal representative and refused to stand by the falsehoods he was forced to make, the prosecution moved to retaliate, including putting his son on the witness stand “solely to harass him and to raise the threat and anxiety of the family at this crucial time.”

“Justice is not a game and there should be no room for such gamesmanship in the Department of Justice,” it reads.

Flynn, who served briefly as US President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, was forced to resign in February 2017, and then pled guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with then-Russian envoy to the US Sergey Kislyak, thus becoming the first casualty of the ‘Russiagate’ impeachment saga.

While ‘Ukrainegate’ breathed new life into the stale impeachment push after Russiagate imploded with the much-anticipated Mueller report failing to unearth evidence of collusion between Trump and the Kremlin, Flynn’s case still drags on.

Last Tuesday, prosecutors called for up to a 6-month jail sentence for Flynn instead of probation, noting that the general has taken up a much more active stance in his own defense and shows less remorse.

Arguing that the prosecution did not hold up their end of the bargain, Flynn has asked the court to delay his sentencing date set for January 28 until at least February 27 to “allow government to respond” to the his plea withdrawal request and to allow Flynn himself to“provide the additional briefing he needs to protect… his constitutional rights.”

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