Less than two months after former special counsel Robert Mueller announced the end of his high-profile investigation of foreign influence on the Trump presidential campaign, his office’s work is facing one of its most notable courtroom tests as a former business partner of Gen. Michael Flynn fights foreign-agent-related charges stemming from Mueller’s probe.
By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. The case against Kian, now being handled by prosecutors from the Alexandria U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s National Security Division, has encountered major obstacles in recent weeks that have raised more doubts about whether Kian will be convicted.
“No one is asking your client to lie,” prosecutor Brandon Van Grack reportedly shot back, then added, “Be careful about what you say,” according to the notes.at Kian’s trial. In an email to lawyers involved in the case, prosecutors said they had doubts about the truthfulness of his testimony. In a court filing Saturday, prosecutors said they plan to ask Trenga to revisit the issue during the trial as evidence of Flynn’s connection to the case is presented to the jury.
Kian’s lawyers also made a last-ditch effort to try to require prosecutors to show that Kian knew acting for Turkey in the U.S. was a violation of U.S. law. The statute Kian was indicted under last year typically doesn’t require such a showing. Prosecutors suffered yet another setback Monday morning as the judge denied them a last-ditch motion to gain access to what they called limited Covington emails relating to Flynn's Turkey-focused work.Prosecutors also asked Trenga to order the defense not to mention in their opening statement the government's decision not to call Flynn, the charge Flynn pleaded guilty to, or the possible sentence facing the defendant.
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