Michael Flynn’s new attorney Sidney Powell on Thursday said that despite federal prosecutors recently stating they expect to argue that Flynn was a co-conspirator in the case against his former business partner, her client does not intend to terminate his cooperation agreement with the government.
Powell said that Flynn plans on “continuing to cooperate,” Powell said in an interview with The Hill, adding, “We’re doing everything we possibly can.”
Court documents unsealed earlier this week revealed that federal prosecutors who once planned on using the former national security advisor as a key witness in the case against his former business partner Bijan Kian, are now planning to argue that Flynn was in fact a coconspirator in the crime.
Kian is currently facing federal criminal charges in Virginia that he and Turkish national Kamil Ekim Alptekin acted as unregistered foreign agents for the Turkish government.
According to documents filed with the court, the government attorneys prosecuting the case have lost confidence in Flynn’s testimony, saying that they “do not necessarily agree” with Flynn’s current characterization of his past actions relevant to the case. Specifically, prosecutors dispute Flynn’s description of how he made false statements about the relationship between the lobbying done by his company and the Turkish government on filings required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
In an email from July 2, prosecutors wrote that Powell’s position is that her client did not previously provide false information to his former lawyers, nor did he knowingly provide false information on the FARA filing, maintaining that he never even read the document.
Flynn is also scheduled to be sentenced in Washington, D.C. after agreeing to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.
Federal prosecutors in Flynn’s D.C. who had previously recommended that Flynn receive a light sentence, filed documents with the court on Wednesday saying that they were unsure whether the developments around Flynn’s testimony at Kian’s trial would impact the sentencing, saying they would wait to see what happens and then re-evaluate the situation.
Flynn’s attorney said Thursday that she was unsure whether the two cases would affect one another.
“That’s purely up to the Department of Justice and what stance they want to take,” Powell said. “Our position is that he is continuing to cooperate. We have done everything humanly possible to do so. And we’re going to continue to do that.”
[image viaSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images]