Michael Flynn Sentencing Postponed After Judge Issues Blistering Rebuke for Lying to FBI
LEMON: Tonight a federal judge ordering Michael Flynn to stay within 50 miles of Washington and surrender his passport. His sentencing for lying to the FBI postponed for a few months, but not before the judge issued a sting rebuke of President Trump's former national security advisor. I want to discuss now with Harry Litman and Jennifer Rodgers. Good evening. Thank you so much. What an interesting day for the investigation and for the courtroom. We see all these norms being violated and people, you know, shooting down institutions and talking about our law enforcement agencies and the legal system. This is a good day for the rule of law, you think?</s>JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think it was. You know, you had a judge who has this incredibly important case in front of him, the sentencing of Michael Flynn, and he has a sentencing memo from the defense that is misrepresenting facts and blaming the FBI and has to say, well, listen, if you're going to back off of the situation here and say that you were somehow tricked, then you haven't accepted responsibility. So, the first thing he needs to do is to ensure that the defendant is actually guilty, that he is accepting responsibility, so that's what he does, and he does it in very strong language and also goes after the seriousness of the offense, too. You know, he wants people to know, including Michael Flynn standing there in front of him that lying to the FBI when you're a senior member of the administration, sitting in the White House is a big deal. And so I think it was a good day for the rule of law because, you know, he's not only talking to the defendant as we know, he's really talking to everybody in the country including Trump and followers who are continuing, trying to undermine the judiciary and all of our institutions. So I think it was a good day in that way.</s>LEMON: What do you think?</s>HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Yes, I agree. Look, it's the crucible of the law that where facts actually control. It's not just any old thing you can say in the political sphere. So they had said these things, they echoed Trump's talking points, and Judge Sullivan was like, you are under oath, let's take it one at a time, that's not true, is it? That's not true, is it? That's not true, is it? It wasn't simply a counterpoint but a counterpoint backed by facts and law, the kind of thing that is lacking so much in the political hullabaloo that we have every day.</s>LEMON: Don't you think that even at the White House and also the trumpets all over the country, their heads were blown up? There were so mad. They love this judge when they thought that he would believe the conspiracy theories, right? And the excuses. And then all of a sudden, they were mad at the judge because the judge said, well, this is -- what you're telling me is bull and then he scolded them. Let's go through some of it, Harry. First for you. The judge's name is Emmet Sullivan, by the way. Scolded Flynn by saying, I am not hiding my disgust, my disdain for your criminal offense.</s>LITMAN: Any by the way, shortly after that, he unpacks the T-word, you know, that he possibly commit treason, which he didn't, but nevertheless, we were all of a sudden underscoring, but was in fact a very grave offence because that is the other part of this, not simply that the talking point is on the right or inaccurate but they are trivializing a serious offense. The guy is carrying on a rogue foreign policy --</s>LEMON: But this judge has a no-nonsense reputation.</s>LITMAN: He actually has a reputation for slapping the government around at times, and I think that's why the lawyers for Flynn were led into a blunder of serving up to him the sort of red meat couple pages in the memo talking about the bad things that the government supposedly had done, and he was having none of it.</s>LEMON: OK. So let's talk about the T-word that he mentioned, because he even raised the idea of treason. He said arguably, you sold your country out. He walked that back later and acknowledged that Flynn's unregistered lobbying for Turkey, right, ended before he worked at the White House, but I mean, he went all in.</s>RODGERS: Well, so this is -- this is interesting. It sounds like he did have the facts wrong a little bit, but the point is, he is not just looking at the offense conduct for what Flynn pleaded guilty to, which is the false statement, which Judge Sullivan said is serious enough as it is. He is also looking at the other conduct that he was charged with and didn't have to plead guilty to which is acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. And, you know, a judge can take into account offense conduct that the person didn't plead guilty to if he finds it by a preponderance of the evidence. So, it actually is the case that Judge Sullivan can consider that conduct when he sentences Flynn. And to me, the fact that he was talking about that a fair amount today means that he's considering that when he is thinking about whether he should actually go to prison.</s>LEMON: Did Flynn's own lawyers trip him up by putting in that whole thing about the, you know, they didn't tell me what rights and all that? Did they trip him up?</s>LITMAN: I think so. After the recess, which Flynn grabbed for to take a breath and probably hit the bathroom, they came back, and the lawyers who are, you know, white shoe, very well established lawyers, fell on their swords immediately, said don't blame the defendant, this was our idea. They knew by then it had been a debacle, that they had tried to trot this out and they then walked it back as best they could. That's why they needed a continuance.</s>LEMON: Why would they do that? Saying that OK, well, maybe he was entrapped in some way?</s>RODGERS: Well, you know, listen, I mean, for some reason, they are still towing the party line when it comes to the president and his supporters. I don't know exactly why it is, but I think that Harry is right, you know, in part it's because of Judge Sullivan's reputation, he's tough on the government, so they think oh, maybe the judge will like it if we poke at them a little bit. And Mueller already said he deserves time, maybe he doesn't think Mueller is going to respond strongly. I'm not exactly sure, but it really was a mistake.</s>LEMON: Do you think that maybe the judge took into account the president's tweet? Do you he knew about it this morning saying I wish you well in court? Do you think that played into it?</s>LITMAN: That's a really interesting question. It does seem to me now we have this political and legal cross currents and as part of what he was doing, reacting to the suggestion out there that normally can't be rebutted, but he's in robes (ph) and he can and he wanted to push back not simply on the political side but to the American public and let them know in fact that justice system was just this guy who is being sentenced for serious crimes. My best guess, yes.</s>LEMON: This is important. We saw redactions in the things that were released last night, in the notes that were released last night. A lot of them. The judge would know what is behind in those redactions, right? Wouldn't he know?</s>RODGERS: Yes.</s>LEMON: And he's still very angry?</s>RODGERS: He is. He is. I mean, I think though, you know, he's not angry at what is in the 302, he's angry at the misrepresentations about the 302, right? So, you know. What is interesting to me also is that instead of just kind of giving them a tongue lashing, which I think a lot of people expected, he then goes on to say, you should do more cooperation. Basically, I'm really considering serious prison time for you. You ought to go out and do more to cooperate with the special counsel's office. Come back to me in March and tell me what you've done. And then I'll see what I want to do. So that is also highly unusual.</s>LEMON: Everybody was like, wait, what?</s>LEMON: What's happening here?</s>LITMAN: We'll come back another day. That's a great idea, your honor.</s>LEMON: Thank you, Harry. Thank you, Jennifer. I appreciate it. The White House no longer demanding that Congress come up with the $5 billion for the president's border wall, but then who is going to pay for it?