Former Trump security adviser Flynn’s sentencing delayed

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was expected to be sentenced Tuesday by a federal judge.

But after almost two dramatic hours in a courtroom discussing his crimes, he asked to postpone his sentencing for several months so he can have more of an opportunity to cooperate in federal investigations and attempt to mitigate the judge's disgust with his actions.

Flynn, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to FBI agents in a January 24, 2017, interview in the West Wing of the White House, told the judge on Tuesday "I was aware" that lying to the FBI was a crime. He said he accepted responsibility for his actions.

He lied to FBI agents about his conversations with Sergei Kislyak, Russia's ambassador in Washington at the time.

During Flynn's sentencing hearing, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan told the retired army lieutenant general that his behaviour was abhorrent, noting that Flynn had also lied to White House officials, who in turn lied to the public.

"I want to be frank with you, this crime is very serious," federal Judge Emmet Sullivan said in the courtroom Tuesday. "Not only did you lie to the FBI, but you also lied to senior officials in the incoming administration."

"Arguably, you sold your country out," Judge Sullivan said.

Prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller's office had asked the judge to give Flynn little to no jail time because he had cooperated extensively with them and in at least one other investigation, a case in Virginia against Flynn's former business associates in which they are accused of illegally lobbying for Turkey. Prosecutors said Tuesday that Flynn had already given the "vast majority of cooperation" the judge should consider for his sentence but it was possible he could still help in other prosecutorial actions.

But Sullivan, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, veered the sentencing hearing off its course.

After formally accepting Flynn's guilty plea, the judge threw a series of questions at him that highlighted how unusual Flynn's case is and how consequential his actions may be.

Following Sullivan's courtroom reprimands Tuesday, Flynn took a break to meet privately with his attorneys. When they returned to the courtroom, Flynn's legal team told the judge they'd like more time before his sentencing.

Both sides now have until March 13 to file a status report with the court. Flynn's sentencing date has not been rescheduled, and will likely not happen until there is a conclusion in the separate federal criminal case in Virginia, in which his lobbying partner has pleaded not guilty.

Sullivan ordered Flynn to stay within 50 miles of Washington and to surrender his passport.

After the hearing, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dug in on the entrapment accusation.

"The FBI broke standard protocol in the way that they came in and ambushed Gen. Flynn and in the way that they questioned him and in the way that they encouraged not to have White House counsel's office present," she said at the White House press briefing.