WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump appeared increasingly under threat from the Russia collusion probe on Wednesday after a court filing revealed that his former national security advisor Michael Flynn cooperated extensively in multiple high-level investigations over the past year.
A sentencing recommendation late on Tuesday from Russia probe head Robert Mueller that Flynn spend no time in jail explained that the retired three-star general had given “substantial assistance” to his and other secret, high-level investigations.
Underscoring the level of cooperation, the filing in the federal court in Washington spelled out that Flynn had been interviewed a total of 19 times over the past year — during which his sentencing for one charge of lying to investigators had been postponed four times.
“Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth below, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range — including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration — is appropriate and warranted,” Mueller said in a memorandum to the court.
That came on the heels of Trump’s ex-personal lawyer Michael Cohen admitting in a court filing last week that he had been in contact with a top aide to Russia President Vladimir Putin well into the 2016 presidential campaign over obtaining a green light to develop a 100 story Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen made clear that, contrary to the president’s previous denials, he had informed Trump and members of his family about the project throughout the first half of 2016, even after Trump had secured the Republican presidential nomination. — AFP
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