Judge postpones Michael Flynn sentencing pending FBI surveillance report

A federal judge on Wednesday postponed the sentencing of former national security adviser Michael Flynn until after the Dec. 9 release of the Justice Department inspector general's report on alleged FBI abuses involving surveillance of the 2016 Trump campaign, CNN reports.

The big picture: The sentencing was set for Dec. 18, but the Justice Department and Flynn's defense asked Judge Emmet Sullivan to delay the sentencing, as the report “will examine several topics related” to a request by Flynn's lawyers to find prosecutors in contempt of court for misconduct, according to the Washington Post.

• The report, which differs from a wider investigation being led by veteran prosecutor John Durham, is expected to absolve FBI leadership of allegations of political bias that President Trump and his allies have long used in an attempt to discredit the Russia probe, the New York Times reports.
• However, it's also expected to criticize lower-ranking officials for a series of missteps in the investigation's early stages, including a criminal referral for a former FBI lawyer who admitted to altering a surveillance application.

Flashback: Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to investigators about his contacts with Russia's former ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. He has been cooperating in various investigations ever since.

Go deeper: Justice Department inspector general to testify on FISA investigation