At some point, I started following (on Twitter) various beat-reporters whose jobs include “sitting in federal courthouses and live-tweeting the criminal proceedings of various Trump flunkies.” It’s actually quite awesome – Twitter is made for this kind of thing, especially since cameras aren’t allowed in federal court. All of this to say, Michael Flynn’s sentencing hearing did not go the way ANYONE thought it would, and the tweets were amazing as everything unfolded in real time.

The backstory is that Flynn is truly “Trump’s guy,” in that Trump has always been bizarrely attached to Flynn, even when Flynn was committing treason and lying to the FBI and the Vice President and everybody else. Trump is even loyal to Flynn when it’s clear that Flynn has spilled his (partial) guts to the Mueller investigation. Trump even has a conspiracy theory that Flynn did nothing wrong, that Flynn was “entrapped” by some “bad FBI guys” and that Flynn is merely a humble intelligence chief and career federal employee who never knew that lying to the FBI was a crime. Flynn even played into that conspiracy theory with a statement last week, saying outright that he was never told that “lying to the FBI” was a crime.

Well, the shenanigans came thick and fast once Mueller’s lawyers and Flynn and his lawyers got to court yesterday for the sentencing hearing. Flynn has already pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his phone calls to Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak. But Mueller’s investigators have Flynn on many other crimes, much like Paul Manafort – Flynn was up to his neck in illegal lobbying for foreign governments and financial shenanigans and such. Many believe that Mueller allowed Flynn to plead guilty to the “lying to the FBI” charge because they made a bigger deal for Flynn’s total cooperation, and that his cooperation includes little to no jail time. That’s what the prosecutors had told the judge: their recommendation was that Flynn serve no jail time, or a minimum amount. But it’s up the judge’s discretion, no matter what. Judge Emmet Sullivan was not here for any of Flynn’s treasonous shenanigans:

Judge Sullivan immediately took aim at the notion of entrapment during Flynn’s sentencing hearing, saying he wondered if Flynn had really accepted responsibility for his crime, according to reporters in the courthouse. Responding to questions from Sullivan, Flynn said he knew that lying to the FBI was illegal and his lawyer said he wasn’t contending that Flynn needed to be reminded of that, nor that he needed to have a lawyer present, or that Flynn “was entrapped by the FBI.” Flynn reportedly affirmed several times that he was guilty of lying to the FBI.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors have recommended that Flynn serve no jail time as a reward for cooperation with their probe into Trump campaign ties to Russia. However, Sullivan reportedly said he couldn’t promise that Flynn wouldn’t receive a jail sentence. He ordered the court to recess briefly for Flynn’s team to consider the morning’s hearing.

“I want to be frank with you, this crime is very serious,” Sullivan said, according to CNN. “Not only did you lie to the FBI, you lied to senior officials in the incoming administration.”

Flynn has also admitted lying about his private sector work for the Turkish government, and yesterday two of his former business associates were indicted for that work. Sullivan reportedly attacked Flynn for not registering as a foreign agent of Turkey while working in Trump’s administration, saying, “arguably you sold your country out.”

At one point Sullivan asked Mueller’s representative whether Flynn could have been charged with treason. The prosecutor said they hadn’t considered that charge.

[From Quartz]

Yes, Judge Sullivan said the word “treason” in open court. So much for “poor misunderstood Michael Flynn, he didn’t even know what he was saying when he chanted ‘Lock Her Up’.” Apparently, the prosecutors were not pleased with Judge Sullivan basically telling them that they were letting a traitor get off with a slap on the wrists, and Flynn’s lawyers were freaking out about Sullivan GOING IN. Sullivan offered to postpone this hearing a few times, and after a lunch break, both sides agree: Flynn won’t be sentenced until March, and during that time, Flynn must continue cooperating with Mueller’s investigation. Heh heh.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.