Why did special counsel Robert Mueller ask for no jail time for former Trump aide Michael Flynn?
The three-star Army general had led the Defense Intelligence Agency under the Obama administration before leading "lock her up" chants against Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
According to an analysis from The Daily Beast, the reason for the extreme leniency Mueller asked for Flynn was that his early cooperation proved vital to cracking the case.
"In the sentencing memo filed against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, the special counsel emphasized Flynn’s timeliness as an important factor for the court to consider in fashioning his sentence for pleading guilty to lying to the FBI," the piece says. "The currency of criminal investigations is cooperators."
Flynn flipped on Trump "not long after the government first sought his cooperation," the memo says, which helped secure the help of other snitches.
The piece contrasts Flynn's actions from those of former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort, who refused to cooperate until after being convicted and then allegedly lied while he was supposed to be helping prosecutors and may have fed information to the Trump team.
"With Manafort and Flynn as his poster children, Mueller knows that other subjects of the investigation are watching," the piece says. "Mueller has sent a strong message that early cooperation will result in a lower sentence. And for those who have dragged their feet, better that cooperation come late than not at all."
Read the piece here.
