Judge postpones sentencing hearing for ex-Trump aide Flynn

Friday, January 17, 2020, Vol. 44, No. 3

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday postponed the sentencing of former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, two days after Flynn moved to withdraw his guilty plea.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan did not immediately rule on Flynn's request. Instead, in a brief written order, the judge asked for additional court filings on the matter over the next month.

He rescheduled the sentencing hearing, which had been set for Jan. 28, to Feb. 27.

In his bid to withdraw his plea, Flynn said the Justice Department had reneged on its deal with him by recommending that he be sentenced to up to 6 months in prison for lying to the FBI.

Prosecutors had earlier supported a sentence of probation for Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his interactions with the then-Russia ambassador to the United States.

But they changed that position after Flynn hired a new team of attorneys who have taken a sharply adversarial position to the federal investigation into Flynn and into ties between Russia and the 2016 campaign.