(彭博社)-美国检察官称迈克尔·弗林的新法律策略促使他们重新评估他们已经签署了两年的合作协议,这可能会危及他避免服刑的希望。
弗林是特朗普的前国家安全顾问,他承认对联邦调查局撒谎,预计他会指证他的前商业伙伴bijan kian。对kian的审判定于下周在弗吉尼亚州亚历山大开始,指控他作为土耳其的未注册代理人。
弗林法律团队的一名成员没有立即回复置评请求。检察官在本周公开的法庭文件中表示,弗林已被放弃作证。弗林自从上个月更换律师并保留了一名严厉批评特别顾问罗伯特米勒调查俄罗斯选举干涉的律师后,就不再向当局发表早期声明。这些变化被广泛认为是争取总统赦免的可能尝试。
检察官本周表示,弗林在kian案中的角色已经从合作者转变为同谋。在最新的文件中,他们说弗林可能会被传唤为辩方证人。他们要求法官推迟弗林的判决,直到kian案结束。弗林是第一个与特别顾问办公室达成协议的主要人物。他被允许承认一项指控,即就他与俄罗斯大使的谈话向联邦调查局撒谎,这是一项可能被判长达五年监禁的罪行,作为他配合米勒调查的回报。
米勒的办公室在去年12月的判决听证会上表示,弗林决定尽早合作并提供广泛的帮助,这一决定非常有价值,以至于他可以腾出时间在狱中度过。但是华盛顿的美国地方法院法官埃米特·g·沙利文对此案有不同的看法。对于弗林获得宽大处理的说法,他犹豫不决,称他在总统竞选和过渡期间担任特朗普的最高安全顾问时,可能会被指控犯有与他作为土耳其政府未注册代理人的工作相关的其他罪行。
“可以说,你出卖了你的国家,”沙利文当时说。"我没有隐藏我的厌恶,我对这种犯罪行为的蔑视。"沙利文推迟了判决,直到弗林与检察官的合作完成。由于弗林和检察官之间的摩擦,法官本周命令他的律师和司法部提交备忘录,描述弗林在kian案中地位变化的影响。弗林与检察官的决裂加速了国会的行动。
众议院情报委员会已经发出传票,并打算等到凯恩受审后再打电话给弗林作证。现在他们正在协商让他尽快回答他们关于俄罗斯干涉2016年总统选举的问题。该委员会主席、加州众议员亚当·希夫周三在提交法庭文件前表示:“在他出庭作证后,我们预计会带他进来作证。”"由于他不再在审判中作证,我们一直在与他的律师联系安排他的出庭。
"早些时候:弗林的新律师可能有一项任务:赢得特朗普的赦免。
U.S. Reveals Second Thoughts About Flynn’s No-Prison Deal
(Bloomberg) -- Michael Flynn’s hopes of avoiding a prison term could be in jeopardy after U.S. prosecutors said that his new legal strategy had prompted them to reassess their two-year-old cooperation agreement.
Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, had been expected to testify against his former business partner, Bijan Kian. A trial for Kian is scheduled to begin next week in Alexandria, Virginia, on federal charges that he acted as an unregistered agent for Turkey.
A member of Flynn’s legal team didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Prosecutors said in court papers unsealed this week that Flynn had been dropped as a witness. Flynn has backed away from his earlier statements to authorities since changing lawyers last month and retaining an attorney harshly critical of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference. Those changes were widely viewed as a possible attempt to secure a presidential pardon.
Prosecutors said this week that Flynn’s role in the Kian case had changed from cooperator to co-conspirator. In the latest filings, they said that Flynn may be called instead as a witness for the defense. They asked the judge to delay Flynn’s sentencing until the Kian case is completed.
Flynn was the first major figure to strike a deal with the special counsel’s office. He was allowed to plead guilty to a single count of lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador, a crime with a possible prison sentence as long as five years, in return for his cooperation with Mueller investigation.
At his sentencing hearing last December, Mueller’s office said that Flynn’s decision to cooperate early and offer a wide range of help had been so valuable that he could be spared time behind bars.
But U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in Washington saw the case differently. He balked at the suggestion that Flynn had earned leniency, saying that he could have been charged with additional crimes related to his work as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government while working as a top security adviser to Trump during the presidential campaign and transition.
“Arguably, you sold your country out,” Sullivan said at the time. “I’m not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense.”
Sullivan delayed the sentencing until Flynn’s cooperation with prosecutors was complete. Because of the friction between Flynn and prosecutors, the judge this week ordered his lawyers and the Justice Department to file memos describing the impact of Flynn’s changing status in the Kian case.
Flynn’s break with prosecutors sped up congressional action. The House Intelligence Committee had issued a subpoena and intended to wait until after Kian’s trial to call Flynn to testify. Now they’re negotiating for him to appear sooner to answer their questions about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“We had anticipated bringing him in to testify after he testified in the trial,” Representative Adam Schiff of California, the committee’s chairman, said Wednesday before the court filing. “As he is no longer testifying in the trial, we have been in touch with his counsel about scheduling his appearance.”
Earlier: Flynn’s New Attorney May Have One Task: Win Pardon by Trump