Michael Flynn’s lawyers said he has shown he has a “deep respect for the law, as reflected in his extensive cooperation with the government’s efforts to get to the truth and to enforce the laws.” | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Mueller Investigation Flynn pleads with judge for no jail time His attorneys cited their client’s “exceptional record of military service” and “his genuine contrition for the uncharacteristic error in judgment that brought him before this court.”

Michael Flynn’s attorneys asked a federal judge on Tuesday to spare the former Trump national security adviser any jail time because of his “extensive cooperation” with special counsel Robert Mueller.

In a 178-page sentencing memo , Flynn’s attorneys pleaded for leniency by citing their client’s “exceptional record of military service” and “his genuine contrition for the uncharacteristic error in judgment that brought him before this court.”


Flynn, who pleaded guilty last December to lying to the FBI during the early stages of its counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, should instead be sentenced to one year of probation with minimal supervision conditions and 200 hours of community service, his lawyers said.

The retired Army general, they added, has shown he has a “deep respect for the law, as reflected in his extensive cooperation with the government’s efforts to get to the truth and to enforce the laws.”

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan is scheduled to sentence Flynn on Dec. 18 for his guilty plea to making false statements to the FBI.

Trump’s White House fired Flynn in February 2017, after less than a month in the administration, for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russian officials during the transition. Flynn had played a prominent role advising Trump during his presidential campaign, and he famously led a chant of “lock her up” during the Republican National Convention in reference to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state.

Mueller’s office last week highlighted Flynn’s cooperation — including 19 interviews with the special counsel and other Justice Department prosecutors — in their own memo suggesting that Flynn get little or no jail time for his behavior.

Adding new details to the extent of Flynn’s cooperation, his lawyers said he spent about 62 hours and 45 minutes meeting with the government. Flynn also produced thousands of documents for the Justice Department, including materials before he pleaded guilty dealing with his two security companies. He also made five additional document productions to the government after his plea agreement last December.

Flynn’s submission says that he accepts responsibility for the false statements he made to the FBI, but it is notably silent about his reasons for doing so and what he was trying to accomplish by misleading the agents.

“As General Flynn has frankly acknowledged in his own words, he recognizes that his actions were wrong and he accepts full responsibility for them,” the defense filing says, pointing to statements Flynn made to the court’s probation office that are not in the public record.

The memo also comes close to suggesting that the misstatements at the center of his guilty plea may have been inadvertent and the result of the way in which his initial FBI interview on the subject arose just a few days after the inauguration and well before there was a publicly acknowledged investigation into Russian interference.

Flynn’s defense also calls attention to the roles played in his case by two former FBI officials who are frequently pilloried by President Donald Trump and his supporters — former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former agent Peter Strzok, once the top agent on the Russia investigation.

The suggestion that Flynn is the subject of a politically driven cabal led by the FBI wasn’t lost on observers.

“Pretty clear subtext in this Flynn sentencing memo that his lawyers think McCabe and the FBI set him up,” Matthew Miller, who was a Justice Department spokesman during the administration of President Barack Obama, wrote on Twitter.

In their plea for leniency, Flynn’s attorneys also tried to distinguish their client’s case from the two other people who have already been sentenced for lying to the FBI in connection with the Mueller investigation: former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and Dutch attorney Alex Van Der Zwaan.

Papadopoulos, who was released last week from a federal prison camp after a 14-day sentence, had a different situation because he had been “specifically notified of the seriousness of the investigation,” Flynn’s lawyers wrote. They also noted that Papadopoulos was warned that lying to investigators was a federal offense.

As for Van Der Zwaan, who spent 30 days in prison before being deported, the Flynn attorneys argued that he was a “trained attorney who was represented by counsel” during his FBI interview. They also said Mueller’s inquiry by the time Van Der Zwaan committed his offense was a “publicly disclosed, full-bore investigation” dealing with the 2016 election.

Flynn’s lawyers also sought to make their case by submitting 50 letters of support, mostly from fellow service members who recalled Flynn’s military exploits and his mentorship.

“I will stand up for him until the day I’m buried,” said Jack Bucklew, of the United States Southern Command, “and even then I’ll do it from heaven.”

“My trepidation resides in my disappointment that a man of such high moral character with the greatest of honorable values could be demonized in the manner in which LTG Flynn has been recently,” added Christopher Vanek, a U.S. Army colonel.

Some of the letters of support that Flynn submitted also come from friends and family members who have publicly alleged that he is being railroaded by the special counsel’s office and was tricked into pleading guilty. However, they stopped short of airing those sentiments in their letters to Judge Sullivan.

“Seeing Michael go through this unfortunate phase in his life is both shocking and sobering,” wrote Flynn’s younger brother, Joseph J. Flynn, a frequent critic on social media of the Mueller investigation. “With all due respect to your office, as you pass your judgment, I implore you to look at every aspect of his life, his loyalty to his family, his loyalty to his soldiers, his superiors, and the dedication of his life to the service of the Nation.”