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Judge Sullivan raised a serious, legitimate, question about if General Flynn could be charged with treason. The Mueller team member failed to respond. Then the Judge strangely backed down after the break. Meanwhile, the Flynn lawyers finally decided to ask for sentencing to be postponed.

At least Judge Sullivan appears to have introduced some “Fear of God” into the Flynn team, as the old timers used to call it.

Long a military intelligence officer, Flynn also served as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, under Obama, until he was removed-forcably retired. Not only did Flynn, then as a private citizen, speak at the RT dinner, he sat next to Putin. What private citizen, and/or former US military intell officer, sits next to Putin? “Guess Who Came to Dinner With Flynn and Putin by Robert Windrem, April 18, 2017, NBC news: https://archive.is/DaP64 Then he was appointed Trump National Security Advisor.

During today’s hearing, Judge Emmet Sullivan reportedly raised the question in court of if Michael Flynn’s conduct “rises to the level of treasonous activity?” Brandon Van Graek of the special counsel’s office (Mueller investigation) said that they didn’t consider if Flynn could be charged with treason. Judge Sullivan asked “Could he have been charged with treason?”
Van Grack apparently failed to clearly reply, based on initial news reports. However, he seems to have replied after all based on this excerpt:

Judge Sullivan also said: “All along, you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the National Security Adviser to the President of the United States. That undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably you sold your country out… I am not hiding my disgust, my disdain for your criminal offense,” “Yes, your honor,” replied Flynn.

Judge Sullivan suggested that Flynn might want to postpone sentencing. He said:
“I want to be frank with you, this crime is very serious</em>,” and that by sentencing today he could only consider cooperation up until today. The Mueller team member said that Flynn could possibly continue to cooperate, but Flynn had already given “substantial assistance” to the Special Counsel, and that “The defendant had provided the vast majority of cooperation that could be considered.”

Judge Sullivan said that “The aggravating circumstances are serious. Not only did you lie to the FBI, you lied to senior officials in the incoming administration“.
Quotes as reported in CNN Michael Flynn Sentencing live, December 18, 2018: https://archive.is/yNLdg

It is known that Flynn failed to register as a foreign agent for Turkey. It remains unknown if the reference is to Russia, as well. Apparently he had stopped working for Turkey prior to becoming Trump’s National Security Advisor. Pre-sentencing update in March. Judge Sullivan walked back his legitimate question for unknown reasons.

What happened during the break to make Judge Sullivan apparently back-down from so important a question?

Update note: Currently unable to find a link to an official copy of the transcript pdf from a reputable source. The above was found online and appears to be a true copy, but not certain.

See great coverage by Steven Portnoy, below, as well as at CNN. Scroll down the tweets: