Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, asked a federal judge to spare him prison time for lying to investigators, claiming that he was misled by the FBI agents who interviewed him last year.

Flynn’s lawyers said that his contrition, lengthy military service and willingness to aid the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller, should be enough to warrant a sentence of mere probation, cited by the New York Times.

READ MORE: Mueller Recommends Flynn No Jail Time for Substantial Assistance on Probe

“His cooperation was not grudging or delayed,” Flynn’s lawyers wrote in a sentencing memo.

The memo also focused on the FBI agents who had interviewed Flynn in the White House last year: Andrew G. McCabe, the former FBI deputy director, and Peter Strzok, a senior counterintelligence agent, both fired from the Bureau by Trump earlier this year.

McCabe and other FBI officials had decided beforehand that the agents “would not warn Flynn that it was a crime to lie during an FBI interview because they wanted Flynn to be relaxed, and they were concerned that giving warning might adversely affect the rapport,” the lawyers wrote, citing internal FBI documents, noting that this meant that McCabe and Strzok were unfairly targeting Flynn from the beginning of the investigation.

The former national security adviser agreed to cooperate with the FBI in the investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Previously, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russia’s alleged role in the 2016 elections, about his contacts with former Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak during the transition period of President Donald Trump assuming office. Flynn also admitted that he misinformed Vice President Mike Pence about the communication with the Russian ambassador. The situation prompted Flynn's resignation. Russia has repeatedly refuted meddling in the US election, with the Moscow and Trump both rejecting the accusations of alleged collusion.