Repeated willful selfdealing. The president s foundation will be shut immediately, and its remaining assets will be distributed to charities approved by the office of the new York State Attorney general in conjunction with the state judge. So that was the start of the day for the president. It should be noted that lawsuit continues dissolving the president s foundation and distributing its assets, according to the wishes of a judge in the new york ag. That doesnt end the case against the president s foundation. In that case, remember the president himself and his three eldest children are all named targets of the states lawsuit. This was very bad news for the president and his family today, and that case may yet have consequences in the criminal law for the president and his family. That case has elements that have been referred for potential criminal prosecution to both the fec on the issues of coordinating illegally with the president s campaign and also the irs for alleged criminal tax violations involving the president s foundation. So thats one thing that happened today. We also today got a very Intriguing Development in the mystery case, the mystery case that somehow involves special Counsel Robert Mueller but nobodys been quite sure how it involves him. This is a matter weve talked about a few times on the show. This is a matter that has just been confounding reporters and observers of the special counsels office for weeks now. All of the filings and all of the hearings conducted in relation to this case have been either filed or conducted under seal, which means the public cant attend and cant read this stuff. Now, weve known that this case involved mueller and his team somehow. We knew that the case, or we could surmise that the case involved somebody fighting a subpoena that they had received from the grand jury that mueller and his team work with in washington, d. C. We knew that the one judge on the court that was hearing this matter, the one judge on that court who was appointed by President Trump is the one judge who was recused from that case. The one trump appointee on that court was recused. So that, among other things, led to a lot of speculation that maybe this mystery case was about the president. Maybe the Mystery Party in this case was the president himself resisting a subpoena from mueller and his grand jury. But nope, today we got a ruling from the federal Appeals Court in this mystery case. And honestly, i still dont totally understand what it is, but it does not appear to be about President Trump personally. It appears to be about a company, we dont know what company, its just called the corporation in the ruling. And the corporation appears to be owned by a foreign country, a country that is not identified. Its just called country a. So the bottom line of that ruling is that mueller wins the subpoena to the corporation is not going to be quashed by the court. But why this fight has been conducted in secret, what this fight has been all about involving some foreign corporation, gaa, i dont know. We finally got a ruling in this case, and we still dont really get what that was all about. Were going get some expert help on figure agatha out in just a minute, a little bit later on this hour. But of course the unbelievable turn of events in todays news happened in federal court in washington, d. C. In the courtroom of judge emmet sullivan. And this just did not go as anybody expected it to. So this is the former National Security adviser of the United States appearing in court for sentencing after he plead guilty more than a year ago and entered into a cooperation deal with the special counsels office. This whole thing today, this whole sentencing today was supposed to roll downhill. There wasnt even a difference of opinion between the prosecution and the defense as to what should happen to mike flynn today. Both side said he should get zero jail time. But amazingly, that consensus view of the defense and the prosecution is not what happened today. Again, we will get expert advice on this in just a morning, but this just turned into a train wreck for mike flynn, and more broadly for supporters of the president , particularly conservative media and on capitol hill who had tried to turn elements telephone Mueller Investigation into some sort of indictment of the fbi, into some sort of scandal about the fbi and Law Enforcement. That took a major hit today. I mean, this was this was just a i mean we knew there was a little element of unpredictability here, but this went way, way off the rails, even before we got to the part where everybody in the courtroom kept saying the word treason over and over again. But this is how it started. The judge, good morning. The courtroom clerk, good morning, your honor. The judge, good morning. Your honor, this is criminal case 17232, United States of america versus Michael Flynn. Will all parties please come forward to this lectern and identify yourselves for the record. Mr. Van grack, governor, your honor, Brandon Van Grack on behalf of the United States. With me at counsels tail about table is zainab ahmed and William Mccausland for the fbi. The goug says good morning, counsel. Ms. Aaahmad says good morning. The judge says, all right, good morning. Good morning, counsel. And then the judge says, mr. Flynn, good morning, how are you . And then the defendant, Michael Flynn says, good. The judge, all right. Good morning. This is case in a very unique posture. Judge sullivan says, quote, i read every filing very carefully in this case. There is a great deal of nonpublic information in this case, and ill just leave it at that. If any of my questions require a party to disclose nonpublic information, or if i begin to discuss something nonpublic, dont be shy in telling me. My clerks over the years have learned to do this. And because we just got a transcript, he makes some sort of gesture. If i get off the script or get into areas, i wont be offended. I may not see you. Stand up or Say Something. I dont want to unintentionally Say Something that should not be revealed on the public docket. So this is right at the outset of todays hearing, and this is a really good reminder right at the outset that all of those redactions we have seen in the Court Filings in mike flynns case, all those big black bars, those things are redacted to us the public, but theyre not redacted to the judge. He has seen the nonpublic information. He has seen the unredacted explanation of the kinds of cooperation that flynn has offered to the special counsel, the cases that he has helped with. The judge has also seen the fbis unredacted notes about their interactions with flynn and about him lying to the fbi. And we really do not know as members of the public whats behind those black redacting bars. But who knows . Maybe whats behind those black bars is what contributed to this judge going off like a volcano today about the seriousness and the terribleness of mike flynns behavior. Im going to cut to the chase here, because this is the part you have heard about today, if you have heard about any of this. The judge, speaking to Michael Flynn, the defendant at this point. The judge, quote, im going to be very frank with you. This crime is very serious. It involves false statements to the federal bureau of investigation agents on the premiseses of the white house, in the west wing by a highranking Security Officer with up to that point an unblemished career of service to his country that is a very serious offense. You know, im going to take into consideration the 33 years of service and sacrifice and take into consideration the substantial assistance of several ongoing investigations, but im also going to take into consideration the aggravating circumstances, and the aggravating circumstances are serious. Not only did you lie to the fbi, but you lied to senior officials in the Trump Transition Team and administration. Those lies caused the then Vice President elect, the incoming chief of staff, and the then press secretary to lie to the american people. Moreover, you lied to the fbi about three different topics, and you made those false statements while you were serving as the National Security adviser, the president of the United States most serious security aide. I cannot minimize that. Two months later you again made sfls statements in multiple documents. All along you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as a National Security adviser to the president of the United States. I mean, arguably, that undermines everything this flag over here stands for. At which point he swivels in his chair and points at the American Flag in the corner of his courtroom. The judge continues, arguably, you sold your country out. The court is going to consider all of that. I cannot assure you that if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration. I cannot make any guarantees, but i am not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense. The defendant, Michael Flynn, yes, your honor. The judge, but its your call, mr. Flynn. Im just being upfront with you, as i would with anyone else, and everyone who knows me, knows that. If you want to proceed to sentencing today, i can not promise anything other than ill give full consideration to anything you wish to say, if you want to stay anything at all. Do you understand that . The defendant, Michael Flynn, yes, sir. The judge, but if you want some more time and to come back later after its clear that youve done everything you possibly can for the United States of america, im going to grant that request. Now, if you would like to take a recess now and talk to your attorneys, im happy to accommodate you in that regard as well. Would you like to do that . The defendant, Michael Flynn, yes, your honor. So at this that point in the proceedings today, Everybody Knows all bets are off. Heading into todays sentencing, mike flynns defense lawyers and the prosecutors from the special counsels office, they had both argued that flynn should receive zero jail time. But, of course, Everybody Knows that its not a consensus thing. It is ultimately up to the judge. And heres the judge, surprise, in open court, flatout warning flynn, i cannot assure you that if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration. There are six different instances in todays sentencing hearing where the judge says to flynn and his lawyers, are you sure you really want me to sentence you today . Are you sure you dont want to rethink that . On the basis of what ive got in front of me, you want me to sentence you today . Are you sure . Six times. The judge even tells flynn at one point, hey, look, ive set up a private room for you the talk to your lawyers today about whether you really, really truly want me to sentence you today. And flynn and his lawyers, one times, two times, three times, four times, five times say nope, judge, were good. Lets go ahead. Until after the part where the judge says to flynn that hes disgusted with and has disdain for flynns offense, and he tells flynn how he sold out his country. And how he has undermined this flag over here, and he turns and points. And at that point, yeah, flynn decides, okay, actually, sir, i know i said no five times, but im going take you up on that offer to maybe not go ahead with you sentencing me today. So Michael Flynn in the end doesnt get sentenced today. Flynns lawyer finally says, quote, we would like to request a continuance of sentencing, your honor. And so flynns cooperation with the government will continue and his case, the sentencing in his case will be continued for another few months. Hell be back presumably some time in march to go before this judge again and talk it over again, maybe under circumstances that wouldnt make the judge explode in front of an open courtroom about how he feels about mike flynns behavior. Now the legal rationale from the judge today for not sentencing mike flynn today, its a legal rationale basically from the judge in which he persuaded flynn and his lawyers to go along with, that was the idea that maybe there is a little more that flynn could do to help out the prosecution here. Remember, muellers office, the special counsels office recommended no jail time for flynn, not because they didnt say he committed serious offenses. They asserted to the court that in fact mike flynn committed serious crimes, but they said that is outweighed by what a great cooperator he has been, helping them with all these other cases. And the judge today was you know however good hes been as a cooperator, youre going to need to add some more cooperation to that side of the scale to balance out his crimes, because his climbs to my mind are unbelievably bad. So hes definitely shocking mike flynn and his defense lawyers today. He also seems to sort of be shocking the prosecutors. And heres where we got some of the news that was made today, made in open court. So this is the judge asking the prosecutors about whether theyre absolutely sure that there is no more cooperation they might be able to squeeze out of mike flynn. The judge says, now id like to hear from the government first, which means the prosecution. Would you come forward, counsel, to the microphone . The judge says again, im not intentionally trying to intrude on matters that should not be on the public record. So ill respect your resistance to answer a question, all right . But is mr. Flynn still cooperating with and providing assistance to the government . Prosecutor Brandon Van Grack. Your honor, it remains a possibility that general flynn is continuing to cooperate with the government at this time. The judge says all right, its a possibility . Mr. Van grack, yes, your honor. The judge, more often than not the court will wait until this perpetrator has finished. This person has testified in the grand jury or pleas entered. There is nothing else he can do to help us. But in this case there is still a likelihood that he could help, correct . The prosecutor then says, yes, but, quote, the defendant has provided the vast majority of consideration that could be considered. So this is the judge being like tell me hes not at the end of cooperating. Tell me hes got Something Else he can tell you. Hes got Something Else he can give you. Because the cooperation hes given you thus far is what im supposed to balance against what i can see about his bad behavior. If he is not done, you might want to wait to have him sentenced until after hes totally done, because hes going to need every iota of his cooperation to balance out how i view his crimes. At this point, we get some news, because the prosecutors from muellers office, they bring up to the judge unprompted the case that we learned about yesterday, and we had wondered if this was going to come up in flynns sentencing today. This is the case just unsealed yesterday where flynns longtime Business Partner was charged with multiple felonies. This is somebody who was also a trump transition official. He was the vicechairman of flynns intelligence group, and help was charged yesterday with being part of a scheme along with mike flynn, person a in that indictment, hes charged with being part of a scheme to basically operate secretly in this country as paid Foreign Agents of the government of turkey without ever disclosing it. So prosecutors from muellers office bring that up to the judge today as if that should help flynn even more. Look, he helped us get that indictment too. Hes been super helpful. He is a great cooperator. But the judge immediately boomerangs that back at them by saying, basically, yeah, i see how he helped you get that indictment filed, but flynn participated in the crime that is laid out in that indictment too. I mean, the judge says looking at the evidence of what flynn himself did in that alleged crime, you could have charged him for that. You could have locked him up for that too, right . Heres how it goes. Prosecutor Brandon Van Grack, quote, wed like to bring to the court ayes attention that we just had an indictment unsealed charges bijan kian and ekim alptekin. In obtaining that charging document. The judge, all right. Could the defendant have been indicted in that indictment . Could he have been charged in that indictment . Prosecutor, Brandon Van Grack, and, your honor, the answer is yes. The judge says your answer is he could have been charged in that indictment . Mr. Van grack, yes, your honor. They then talk about how many years in prison mike flynn could have received just for that crime if he had been charged and convicted in that case that was unsealed yesterday in virginia. The judge concludes that discussion by saying, quote, the exposure for flynn would have been grave then. Exposure to mr. Flynn would have been significant had he been indicted, meaning he could have potentially received many years in prison. Mr. Van grack, the prosecutor, says yes, your honor. So that is a remarkable moment. Thats the prosecutors trying to help flynn out here. Theyre prosecuting flynn, but theyre trying to help him out. Theyre telling the judge, hey, he helped us out in this other case. A and the judge in response makes the prosecutors spell out how guilty flynn might have been in that felony criminal case too. So things are not going well for Michael Flynn here. You should also know that t