Tuesday’s filing indicates that the special counsel could believe Michael Flynn has more information useful to the investigation, or that sentencing hearings might reveal parts of the investigation that Mueller would like to keep under wraps. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo Mueller seeks to push back Flynn sentencing again

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Tuesday sought to postpone a sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser.

“Due to the status of the investigation, the Special Counsel’s Office does not believe that this matter is ready to be scheduled for a sentencing hearing at this time,” Mueller’s team wrote in a joint court filing with Flynn’s defense team.


The court asked for an update on a sentencing timeline for Flynn by Aug. 24, but the parties asked for that date to be pushed back to Sept. 17. On Tuesday evening, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan accepted the request from Mueller and defense attorneys to file their joint status report by that date. Mueller’s team previously asked for a delay in sentencing at the end of June.

Flynn served as the president’s first national security adviser until February 2017 when he was fired for allegedly lying to the vice president about his contacts with Russian officials. He pleaded guilty in December to lying to investigators, and has been cooperating with Mueller’s election interference probe since.

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Tuesday’s filing indicates that Mueller’s team could believe Flynn has more information that is useful to the investigation, or that sentencing hearings might reveal parts of the investigation that Mueller would like to keep under wraps.

It follows the special counsel’s recommendation on Friday that another cooperating witness, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, serve up to six months in prison for repeatedly lying to investigators and impeding the investigation.

The push for a delay comes amid jury deliberations for the first of two federal trials for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort stemming from the Russia probe and reports that the president's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is in talks with federal prosecutors in New York for a plea deal to avoid separate tax fraud and banking charges.

Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.