Robert Mueller's team isn't buying the claim of former Trump national security adviser and felon Michael Flynn that he was somehow coerced into lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. In a new filing Friday, Mueller's team rejects the claim of Flynn’s lawyers earlier this week that FBI agents didn't properly inform him of the nature of their questions when they interviewed him regarding Russia early in the administration. The New York Times writes:
“A sitting national security adviser, former head of an intelligence agency, retired lieutenant general and 33-year veteran of the armed forces knows he should not lie to federal agents,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. “He does not need to be warned it is a crime to lie to federal agents to know the importance of telling them the truth.”
Amen. Frankly, it's a mystery that Flynn's lawyers poked the eye of the FBI when Mueller's team had already submitted an incredibly lenient sentencing recommendation last week.
In their court filing asking for leniency from the judge, Flynn's lawyers argued that former FBI agents Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok took advantage of Flynn’s "unguarded" nature with them and didn't "warn Flynn that it was a crime to lie during an F.B.I. interview." Because apparently only rocket scientists and brain surgeons know it's a bad idea to lie to the FBI, but former military and intelligence operatives don't.
Still, Flynn sat for 19 interviews with Mueller’s team, and their Friday court filing argued Flynn should still receive a light sentence for his crime—0 to 6 months’ jail time is standard. Whatever Flynn told Mueller, it must have proven incredibly valuable.