Flynn to make arguments against prison time in Russia probe

WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, are poised to ask a judge to spare him prison time in a sentencing memorandum.

Defense lawyers are expected to echo arguments from special counsel Robert Mueller's office Flynn has been so cooperative with investigators, meeting with them 19 times, he is entitled to avoid prison when he is sentenced next week.

Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations during the presidential transition period with the then-Russian ambassador to the United States, will become the first White House official punished in the special counsel's ongoing probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

The filing comes as lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said they were still deciding whether to dispute allegations he lied to investigators and breached his plea agreement. A judge gave Manafort until Jan. 7 to respond to prosecutors' claims he misled them about his interactions with an associate who they say has ties to Russian intelligence and with Trump administration officials.

The defendants, their fortunes sliding in opposite directions, represent starkly different paths in Mueller's investigation -- a model cooperator on one end and, prosecutors say, a dishonest and resistant witness on the other. Even as prosecutors recommend no prison time for Flynn, they've left open the possibility they may seek additional charges against Manafort, who is already facing years in prison.

Given both men's extensive conversations with prosecutors, and their involvement in key episodes under scrutiny, the pair could pose a threat to Trump, who in addition to Mueller's investigation is entangled in a separate probe by prosecutors in New York into hush-money payments paid during the campaign to two women who say they had affairs with the president.

Since his guilty plea a year ago, Flynn has stayed largely out of the public eye and refrained from discussing the Russia investigation despite encouragement from his supporters to take an aggressive stance.

Tuesday's filing was the first opportunity in which Flynn's attorneys, Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony, laid out his side of the story.

The memo is expected to emphasize the retired Army lieutenant general's three decades in the military, including five years in combat, and his acceptance of responsibility for his actions early on in the Russia investigation.

The memo could also reflect the toll the investigation has taken on Flynn and his family over the past two years. In a public statement after his plea, Flynn has said he cooperated with prosecutors because it was in "the best interests of my family and our country."

In Manafort's case, prosecutors have accused him of repeatedly lying to them even after he agreed to cooperate. They say Manafort lied about his interactions with a longtime associate they say has ties to Russian intelligence, his contacts with Trump administration officials and other matters under investigation by the Justice Department.

Manafort pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in Washington in September and faces sentencing in a separate case in Virginia, where he was convicted of eight felony counts related to his efforts to hide millions of dollars he earned from Ukrainian political consulting from the IRS.