"You ask my client to lie": Flynn's lawyers fought against a prosecutor



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Michael Flynn

Michael Flynn's lawyers and prosecutors disagree, prosecutor Brandon Van Grack accusing Flynn of coming back on some of the facts he has confessed under his 2017 deal. Carolyn Kaster / AP Photo

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"No one is asking your client to lie," retorted former Mueller prosecutor Brandon Van Grack. & # 39; Be careful what you say. & # 39;

By JOSH GERSTEIN

In a tense exchange last month, Michael Flynn's new legal team accused a federal prosecutor of trying to force Trump's former national security adviser to lie, court documents revealed on Thursday.

"You're telling my client to lie," Flynn attorney Sidney Powell said during the June 27 conference call, according to notes from another Flynn lawyer.

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"Nobody asks your client to lie," said prosecutor Brandon Van Grack, indicating the notes. "Pay attention to what you say."

Van Grack, a former member of Special Advocate Robert Mueller's team who is still on the Flynn case, became "very heated" during the call, according to Flynn's lawyer, Lindsay McKasson. Her Remarks were submitted Thursday to the federal judge in Washington, D., who should sentence Flynn for a false statement on behalf of felony, for which he pleaded guilty in 2017 as part of a plea deal with him. Mueller's team.

Recently published notes provide additional details on a dispute overwhelmed in public view earlier this week after it was revealed that prosecutors had canceled their plans to call Flynn as a key witness during the imminent trial of his ex-business partner, Bijan Rafiekian.

Rafiekian, better known as Kian, should be tried on Monday.

The decision to relinquish Flynn as a prosecution witness at Kian's trial surprised US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who repeatedly postponed Flynn's conviction to allow the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency to demonstrate cooperation with the government by testifying at the trial.

The complaint filed Thursday by Flynn's lawyers was a response to Sullivan's request for more details from the prosecutors and Flynn's legal team on the reversal and its impact on Flynn's sentencing.

Just last month, prosecutors praised Flynn for its cooperation. At the first sentencing hearing last December, prosecutors recommended that Flynn, who spent 24 days as the first national security adviser to President Donald Trump, be sentenced to a prison term of being fired for misleading colleagues and investigators about his contacts with Russian officials.

However, about a month ago, Flynn relinquished his lawyers from Washington's big law firm, Covington & Burling, and switched to a team led by Powell, a Texas attorney who became a major presence on cable TV with harsh criticism from the Mueller team.

This decision speculated that Flynn might adopt a more combative attitude towards prosecutors and perhaps even try to backtrack on his plea agreement. Powell insisted that Flynn was not trying to do it.

Now, at least some of this prophecy has been fulfilled. The lawyers and prosecutors of Flynn disagree. Van Grack accuses Flynn of going back on some of the facts he has confessed under the 2017 agreement.

"This is the language your client has accepted," Van Grack told defense counsel during the acrimonious appeal of the end of June, according to the notes.

Flynn's lawyer, Bill Hodes, stated that although his client admitted that some of the documents his firm had submitted to the Department of Justice regarding lobbying work related to Turkey were inaccurate, Mr. Flynn had not never admitted that these inaccuracies were intentional or deliberate.

"He did not knowingly make the statements that he knew to be false," Hodes said during the call, according to the notes.

This comment led Van Grack to reply that an accidental anomaly was not a crime. "Without being deliberate / conscious, this is not an offense," he said, according to the notes.

Prosecutors may also have been alarmed by the fact that Powell was unquestionably hostile to the pending case against Kian, who is accused of acting as an unofficial agent of the Turkish government and conspiracy.

"Where the hell is your case?" Said Flynn's lawyer, according to the notes. She then hinted that prosecutors were seeking to send Kian to jail for 15 years solely for his involvement in writing an editorial published on election day 2016 in order to promote the government's interests. Turkish.

Prosecutors have yet to say whether recent developments will change their stance on Flynn's sentence. Both parties have asked Sullivan to continue deferring his sentence as it is possible that Flynn may be called to testify in the defense at Kian's trial.

Flynn's lawyers say they continue to cooperate with prosecutors, despite their apparent dissatisfaction with his current position.

"Mr. Flynn has continued to assist the government and his decision not to summon him as the main witness – for whatever reason – does not diminish what Mr. Flynn has done so far," he said. said Flynn's lawyer. wrote, before suggesting that the government's arguments against Flynn's ex-partner might run aground. "If the cause of the government failed here, it would not be because of anything Mr. Flynn did or did not do."

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