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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Wednesday, December 19, 2018 3A
Flynn sentencing postponed abruptly
This courtroom sketch depicts President Donald Trump’s former national
security adviser Michael Flynn, standing center, flanked by his lawyers,
listening to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, right, as he addresses
Flynn and points to the American flag inside the federal court, Tuesday,
Dec. 18, in Washington.
BY ERIC TUCKER AND CHAD DAY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A federal
judge abruptly postponed the
sentencing of President Donald
Trump’s first national security
adviser, Michael Flynn, on Tues
day, saying he could not hide his
disgust for Flynn’s crime of lying to
the FBI and accusing him of selling
out his country.
Lawyers for Flynn,
a retired Army lieuten
ant general who pleaded
guilty last year to lying to
the agency about his Rus
sia contacts, requested
the delay during a stun
ning hearing in which U.S.
District Judge Emmet Sul
livan gave Flynn a blister
ing rebuke.
“Arguably you sold your country
out,” Sullivan told Flynn, who was
flanked by his attorneys.
The judge added: “I can’t hide
my disgust, my disdain.”
Sullivan’s harsh words raised
the prospect that he could send
Flynn to prison — an unexpected
development since prosecutors
have recommended against prison
time, citing his cooperation in spe
cial counsel Robert Mueller’s Rus
sia probe.
The delay allows Flynn to con
tinue cooperating with the Russia
probe and get credit for it in his
punishment.
The hearing came amid escalat
ing legal peril for Trump, who was
implicated by federal prosecutors
in New York this month in hush-
money payments to cover up extra
marital affairs. Nearly a
half-dozen former aides
and advisers — including
Flynn — have pleaded
guilty or agreed to cooper
ate with prosecutors.
Flynn became known
during the Trump presi
dential campaign for
leading chants of “Lock
her up” during rallies,
referring to Trump’s rival Hillary
Clinton.
Trump signaled his continued
close interest in the case by tweet
ing “good luck” to Flynn hours
before the sentencing hearing.
He added: “Will be interesting
to see what he has to say, despite
tremendous pressure being put on
him, about Russian Collusion in our
great and, obviously, highly suc
cessful political campaign. There
was no Collusion!”
At the White House afterward,
press secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders was asked if the admin
istration had changed its stance
on Flynn or the FBI in light of his
admissions and guilty plea.
“Maybe he did do those things,
but it doesn’t have anything to do
DANA VERKOUTEREN I Associated Press
with the president,” she said. “It’s
perfectly acceptable for the presi
dent to make a positive comment
about somebody while we wait to
see what the court’s determination
is.”
Sanders repeated her allegation
that the FBI “ambushed” Flynn in
an interview in which he denied
contacts with Russian officials, and
she said of Trump’s earlier criti
cism, “We don’t have any reason to
want to walk that back.”
The new delay in sentencing
upset what had been a carefully
crafted agreement, with Mueller’s
office saying Flynn had already
provided “the vast majority” of
information he could.
Flynn, who served as national
security adviser for only a few
weeks, was to be the first White
House official sentenced in Muel
ler’s investigation. Prosecutors had
praised his cooperation and recom
mended against prison, and Tues
day’s sentencing was expected
to be relatively straightforward.
Flynn had expected to walk out the
courthouse a free man.
But the hearing turned on a dime.
Sullivan lambasted Flynn for lying
to the FBI in the West Wing of the
White House and said he wouldn’t
allow Flynn to minimize the seri
ousness of his crime.
After a prosecutor raised the
prospect of Flynn’s continued coop
eration with other investigations in
the future, Sullivan warned Flynn
that he might not get the full credit
for his assistance to the government
if he were sentenced as scheduled.
Flynn
Shutdown talk recedes after
White House eases wall threat
Trump Foundation reaches
deal to dissolve amid lawsuit
BY LISA MASCARO,
MATTHEW DALY AND
CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -
President Donald Trump
appeared Tuesday to back
off his demand for $5 billion
to build a border wall, signal
ing for the first time that he
might be open to a deal that
would avoid a partial govern
ment shutdown.
The White House set the
tone when press secretary
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
indicated that Trump doesn’t
want to shut down the gov
ernment, though just last
week he said he’d be “proud”
to do so. The president would
consider other options and
the administration was look
ing at ways to find the money
elsewhere, Sanders said.
It was a turnaround after
days of impasse. Without a
resolution, more than 800,000
government workers could
be furloughed or sent to work
without pay beginning at
midnight Friday, disrupting
government operations days
before Christmas.
One option that has been
circulating on Capitol Hill
would be to simply approve
government funding at exist
ing levels, without a boost
for the border, as a stopgap
measure to kick the issue
into the new Congress next
month. The chairman of the
Appropriations Committee,
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.,
confirmed late Tuesday his
office was preparing legis
lation to keep government
funded, likely into February.
The White House preference
was for such a short-term
package, said a person famil
iar with the negotiations but
not authorized to discuss
them by name.
“We want to know what
can pass,” Sanders said at a
press briefing. “Once they
make a decision and they
put something on the table,
we’ll make a determina
tion on whether we’ll move
forward.”
She also said the president
“has asked every agency
to look and see if they have
money that can be used.”
The turn of events kick-
started negotiations that
had been almost nonexis
tent since last week’s tele
vised meeting at the White
House, when Trump neither
accepted nor rejected the
Democrats’ offer. They had
proposed keeping funding at
current levels of $1.3 billion
for border security fencing
and other improvements, but
not for the wall.
The Senate’s top Repub
lican and Democratic lead
ers began negotiating new
proposals and talks were
expected to continue.
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell said he was
confident there would not
be a government shutdown.
McConnell said a stopgap
measure could be approved,
though he suggested that
House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, who is poised
to become House speaker
when the Democrats take
control Jan. 3, would not
want to saddle the new year
with a budget brawl.
“If I were in her shoes, I
would rather not be dealing
with this year’s business next
year,” McConnell said.
Pelosi and Senate Minor
ity Leader Chuck Schumer
have made it clear they are
not interested in funding
Trump’s border wall.
During a meeting earlier
Tuesday on Capitol Hill,
McConnell had proposed $1.6
‘At the end
of the day, we
don’t want to
shut down the
government.
We want to shut
down the border
from illegal
immigration.’
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Press Secretary
billion for border fencing, as
outlined in a bipartisan Sen
ate bill, plus an additional
$1 billion that Trump could
use on the border, according
to a senior Democratic aide
unauthorized to speak about
the private meeting.
Democratic leaders imme
diately spurned the proposal.
Schumer called McConnell
to reject it.
“We cannot accept the
offer they made of a billion-
dollar slush fund for the pres
ident to implement his very
wrong immigration policies,”
Pelosi told reporters. “So that
won’t happen.”
Democrats also rejected
the administration’s idea of
shifting money from other
accounts to pay for Trump’s
wall. Schumer said there will
be no wall money, “plain and
simple.”
Pelosi will probably be
able to quickly approve a
longer-term measure to
keep government running in
the new year. She called it a
“good sign” that the White
House appeared to be back
ing off its demands.
The White House showed
willingness to budge as it
became clear the president
lacks support in Congress for
funding the wall at the $5 bil
lion level. Sanders said Tues
day there are “other ways”
to secure funding.
“At the end of the day, we
don’t want to shut down the
government,” Sanders said
on Fox News Channel. “We
want to shut down the border
from illegal immigration.”
EARLY DEADLINES FOR
CHRISTMAS DAY
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She Sfmes
gainesvilletimes •com
will be CLOSED Tuesday,
December 25th, in observance of Christmas.
BY MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Presi
dent Donald Trump’s
charitable foundation
reached a deal Tuesday to
go out of business, even as
Trump continues to fight
allegations he misused its
assets to resolve business
disputes and boost his run
for the White House.
New York’s attorney
general and lawyers for
the Trump Foundation
agreed on a court-super-
vised process for shutting
down the charity and dis
tributing about $1.7 mil
lion in remaining funds to
other nonprofit groups.
The agreement
resolved one part of the
legal drama surrounding
Trump, whose campaign,
transition, inauguration
and real estate empire are
all under investigation.
Attorney General
Barbara Underwood’s
lawsuit alleging Trump
and his family illegally
operated the foundation
as an extension of his
businesses and his presi
dential campaign will
continue.
The lawsuit, filed last
spring, seeks $2.8 mil
lion in restitution and a
10-year ban on Trump and
his three eldest children —
Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka
— from running any chari
ties in New York.
In a statement Tuesday,
Underwood cited “a shock
ing pattern of illegality
involving the Trump Foun
dation — including unlaw
ful coordination with the
Trump presidential cam
paign, repeated and will
ful self-dealing, and much
more.”
The foundation operated
as “little more than a check
book to serve Mr. Trump’s
business and political inter
ests,” she said.
Lawyers for the founda
tion have said any infrac
tions were minor.
Trump pledged to dissolve
the three-decade-old foun
dation and donate its funds
to charity after his 2016
election, but his lawyers
said they were thwarted by
the attorney general’s office,
which wanted oversight over
its closure. The attorney
general’s office said it would
have been “unacceptable”
to let the foundation fold
without close supervision.
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FY2018 Report on Projects Funded Through Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST VII)
Project
Year
Approved
Original
Estimated Cost
Current
Estimated Cost
Amount
Expended
Prior Years
Amount
Expended
Current Year
Total Amount
Expended to
Date
Project
Completed
This Year
Estimated
Completion
Date
Project
Behind
Schedule
Project
Underfunded
Water and Sewer Infrastructure
2016
$1,308,000
$1,308,000
$689,158
$164,772
$853,930
N
2020
N
N
Public Safety Vehicles
2016
$231,000
$231,000
$88,842
$56,589
$145,431
N
2020
N
N
Roads, Streets, and Bridges
2016
$1,113,935
$1,113,935
$36,520
$28,626
$65,146
N
2020
N
N
Administrative Building & Plaza
2016
$1,616,652
$1,616,652
$194,420
$1,422,232
$1,616,652
N
2018
N
N
Total
$4,269,587
$4,269,587
$1,100,874
$1,672,219
$2,773,093
