Mueller rebukes Flynn, who 'chose' to make false statements to FBI

The Hill ^ | 12/14/18 | Morgan Chalfant

[yesthatjallen]

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday rebuked former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for suggesting that FBI agents had duped him into lying about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.

“Nothing about the way the interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI on January 24,” Mueller wrote in a filing Friday afternoon, asking a federal judge to reject Flynn’s attempt to “minimize the seriousness of those false statements to the FBI.”

“The defendant chose to make false statements about his communications with the Russian ambassador weeks before the FBI interview, when he lied about that topic to the media, the incoming Vice President, and other members of the Presidential Transition Team,” Mueller wrote.

“When faced with the FBI’s question on January 24, during an interview that was voluntary and cordial, the defendant repeated the same false statements,” he continued. “The Court should reject the defendant’s attempt to minimize the seriousness of those false statements to the FBI.”

Mueller was responding to a filing from Flynn’s attorneys earlier this week that requested he be spared jail time.

The filing also suggested he had been tricked by the FBI into lying to agents in his January 2017 interview, which has fed the theory among conservatives that Flynn had been wrongly led to commit a crime.

Flynn is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18. Mueller has asked U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to impose a lenient sentence, citing Flynn’s “substantial assistance” in the ongoing investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.

[rx]

I think “didst thou” is what you’re looking for.

[CaptainK]

The “e” on my keyboard is sticking LOL.