The Atlantic

Mueller’s Sentencing Memo for Flynn Doubles as a Warning to Manafort

A heavily redacted document cites the former national-security adviser’s “substantial” cooperation as a reason for him to avoid jail. Trump’s former campaign chief may not be so lucky.
Source: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that witnesses in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe should refuse to cooperate. But in a highly anticipated sentencing memo filed on Tuesday night, Mueller sent a clear message to the current and future witnesses in the Russia investigation: Testify honestly and completely, and you could be spared prison time.

In the memo, Mueller asked a judge that former national-security adviser Michael Flynn serve no prison time for lying to the FBI in early 2017 because of his “substantial” cooperation with the Justice Department since last December. But the memo was just as notable for what it didn’t say as for what it did—details about Flynn’s cooperation with Mueller’s team as part of the investigation into a potential

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