Michael Flynn went to court Tuesday expecting to be sentenced, hopefully to probation, for lying to the FBI. He left with everything on hold — after the judge all but called him a traitor.

Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan put the hold on because of a surprise from Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s prosecution team, which revealed out of the blue that Flynn may still be cooperating. Sentencing is almost never done before such cooperation is completed, and the judge pushed Flynn into agreeing to wait.

Yet Sullivan dropped his own surprise by (falsely) citing Flynn for being a lobbyist for Turkey while serving as national security adviser, then accusing him of having “sold your country out” and even asking prosecutors if he could be charged with treason. (No, they explained.)

The judge wound up walking back all his erroneous remarks, but they still added up to the weirdness of the case — whose last odd turn involved Sullivan’s concern that the prosecution was withholding evidence.

Then there’s the charge to which Flynn did plead guilty, namely lying about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the transition. Nothing about those contacts was illegal or even unusual — but Flynn, for still-unknown reasons, felt the need to lie about what was discussed.

Even then, he made no improper suggestions or requests: On the contrary, he asked that Russia not overreact to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration.

Yes, Flynn’s offenses merit the loss of his position and reputation, and perhaps some hard time. But he doesn’t deserve unfounded accusations of treason from a federal judge.

All the strangeness only lends more credence to suspicions that Flynn has been more of a political target than a legal one.