Retired judge calls effort to drop case against ex-Trump aide 'gross abuse' of power

By Sarah N. Lynch and Jan Wolfe

 

FILE PHOTO: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn exits a vehicle as he arrives for his sentencing hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., December 18, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A retired judge urged a federal court on Wednesday not to allow the Justice Department to dismiss its criminal case against President Donald Trump's former adviser Michael Flynn, citing evidence of a "gross abuse of prosecutorial power."

 

The U.S. district judge hearing the case, Emmet Sullivan, tapped John Gleeson last month to serve as a "friend of the court," after the Justice Department abruptly asked the court to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general.

 

The stunning move by the Justice Department followed a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies and came even though Flynn had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with former Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.

 

"The Department of Justice has a solemn responsibility to prosecute this case — like every other case — without fear or favor," Gleeson wrote. "It has abdicated that responsibility through a gross abuse of prosecutorial power, attempting to provide special treatment to a favored friend and political ally of the President of the United States."

 

He said Sullivan should proceed with sentencing Flynn.

 

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment beyond what the government has already argued in court filings.

 

Flynn was one of several former Trump aides charged under former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that detailed Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

 

Gleeson said there was "ample evidence in the record that Flynn committed perjury," or lied under oath.

 

He recommended that Sullivan take Flynn's perjury into account when sentencing him for lying to the FBI, rather than commencing a follow-on prosecution.

 

Despite admitting twice under oath to lying to the FBI and agreeing to cooperate, Flynn later changed legal tactics and his attorneys now allege the FBI entrapped him.

 

The Justice Department now says the FBI investigation that led to the charge lacked an adequate legal basis and that Flynn's statements, even if untrue, were not material.

 

"The reasons offered by the government are so irregular, and so obviously pretextual, that they are deficient," Gleeson wrote in response. "They reveal an unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President Trump."

 

Gleeson highlighted the conversations that Flynn had with Kislyak that led to the false-statement charge, and compared them against how Flynn portrayed them during his January 2017 FBI interview.

 

A transcript showed Flynn telling Kislyak he wanted to avoid a "tit for tat" over sanctions the United States imposed on Russia for its interference in the 2016 election.

 

Flynn has also asked an appeals court to force Sullivan to accept the request to drop the case. Arguments in that case are set for Friday.

 

"This Court must stop him (Sullivan) before he further jeopardizes the legitimacy of the federal judiciary," Flynn told the appeals court in a court filing on Wednesday.

 

Sullivan has said he cannot serve as a "rubber stamp" and must carefully review the facts in this "unprecedented" request.

 

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-11

 

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lock him up!  lock him up!

Someone needs to contact The Society for the Preservation of Swamp Creatures.

I'm waiting for when things get so hot for these blackguards associated with this White House that they start going to Russia to live in exile.  DT has his eye on building a Mar-a-Lago in North Korea, where he can live out his days away from the reach of that terrible, so terrible FBI.

 

 

17 minutes ago, 1Gringo said:

lock him up!  lock him up!

Should be lock them up aka the White House swamp. 

Flynn deceived into a crooked perjury trap is the gross abuse of power here. 

4 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Flynn deceived into a crooked perjury trap is the gross abuse of power here. 

Before spouting such nonsense, try reading Judge Gleeson's report, if you are able. Here is a link to the report: https://pacer-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/36/191591/04517871052.pdf

8 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Flynn deceived into a crooked perjury trap is the gross abuse of power here. 

So far only Trump supporters think so, the independent judiciary thinks differently.

corruption comes in many styles and colors and it can be subtle or overt, but at the end of the day it is still corruption.. 

39 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Someone needs to contact The Society for the Preservation of Swamp Creatures.

I'm waiting for when things get so hot for these blackguards associated with this White House that they start going to Russia to live in exile.  DT has his eye on building a Mar-a-Lago in North Korea, where he can live out his days away from the reach of that terrible, so terrible FBI.

 

 

And he can life close by his dear friend the dictator of NK.

 

 

considering this ex judge hates trump and has posted his hate for the trump administration online it does seem like this is a total hit job by someone that should have been disqualified due to their personal hatred for the republicans, even the supreme court has made a previous ruling meaning withdrawal of charges in court cases should make them be dropped but because the trial judge and this idiot he appointed are both democrats/trump haters they are fighting it. The rule of law backs up the dropping of this case due to what the fbi & their lawyer did, peoples political preference shouldnt come into it, the fbi were the ones that broke the law as well as their lawyer that led the charge(and resigned from the case once the truth came out) are the guilty parties

1 hour ago, seajae said:

considering this ex judge hates trump and has posted his hate for the trump administration online it does seem like this is a total hit job by someone that should have been disqualified due to their personal hatred for the republicans, even the supreme court has made a previous ruling meaning withdrawal of charges in court cases should make them be dropped but because the trial judge and this idiot he appointed are both democrats/trump haters they are fighting it. The rule of law backs up the dropping of this case due to what the fbi & their lawyer did, peoples political preference shouldnt come into it, the fbi were the ones that broke the law as well as their lawyer that led the charge(and resigned from the case once the truth came out) are the guilty parties

Then everything trump does should be viewed as illegitimate ????

2 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Flynn deceived into a crooked perjury trap is the gross abuse of power here. 

How can anyone fall into a perjury trap, crooked or straight, if they consistently tell the truth?

4 hours ago, Emdog said:

Before spouting such nonsense, try reading Judge Gleeson's report, if you are able. Here is a link to the report: https://pacer-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/36/191591/04517871052.pdf

It also provides a summary of the Flynn case which is quite useful.

Just another example of this administrations courruption and attack on the rule of law can we all say banna republic

4 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Flynn deceived into a crooked perjury trap is the gross abuse of power here. 

There is no such thing as a ‘Perjury Trap’, it’s not a thing.

 

All Flynn had to do was tell the truth when giving testimony to the FBI, something he failed to do. Failing to tell the truth to the FBI was Flynn’s choice.

Surprise surprise !!! Its' gunna be really good soap opera reading if dear ol' Donald gets voted out n the Dems get Senate control because all the scam n rip offs n perverting justice stuff will come out ! 

No clue why trump, and barr are going to such lengths to obstruct justice on this flynn case?

 

I guess they want to delegitimize the Russian interference activities but most people have moved on and forgotten about this. 

 

Just issue a pardon and be done with it.

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

There is no such thing as a ‘Perjury Trap’, it’s not a thing.

 

All Flynn had to do was tell the truth when giving testimony to the FBI, something he failed to do. Failing to tell the truth to the FBI was Flynn’s choice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perjury_trap

21 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Flynn deceived into a crooked perjury trap is the gross abuse of power here. 

Then why did he plead guilty to it, twice.

A post with links to questionable sources has been removed as well as the replies.

 

A post using a video from an unapproved YouTube source and the replies has been removed. 

38 minutes ago, i84teen said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perjury_trap

Which didnt happen. The fbi tried to lead him into correcting himself by asking many times if he was certain. They pretty much led him to the truth but he just wouldnt admit it.

 

In court he was asked if he understood the charges and reasons. He admitted the lies and pleaded guilty, twice.

On 6/11/2020 at 6:13 AM, webfact said:

Retired judge calls effort to drop case against ex-Trump aide 'gross abuse' of power

I wonder what he said when James Comey  indicated that Hillary would not be prosecuted since NO REASONABLE PROSECUTOR WOULD BRING THE CASE. 
I guess that retired judge had no problem in Comey as head of the FBI not only exonerating her, but by making the assertion usurped an authority that did not belong to him.  The FBI investigates. The Justice Department after hearing the evidence is the proprietorial arm of the government who makes the decisions who gets prosecuted. 

 

The case against Flynn given the evidence that at the very least his Miranda rights were violated, and that exculpatory evidence was withheld would warrant the case being tossed out of court. 

4 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

I wonder what he said when James Comey  indicated that Hillary

 

Classic whataboutism. And do you really "wonder"? Do you spend a lot of your time "wondering"?

 

4 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

The case against Flynn given the evidence that at the very least his Miranda rights were violated, and that exculpatory evidence was withheld would warrant the case being tossed out of court. 

 

This, of course, is NOT the basis on which barr directed the DoJ to drop the case.

 

 

 

Obama separated himself from the investigation, contrary to the conspiracy theorist in chief, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/obamagate-backfires-documents-show-biden-obama-acted-properly/ar-BB14jFdr?ocid=sf

A post using an off topic video has been removed. 

DC Circuit Oral Argument in Michael Flynn Perjury Dismissal Case

 

https://www.c-span.org/video/?472993-1/dc-circuit-oral-argument-michael-flynn-perjury-dismissal-case

 

 

 

In a way, it might be better in the long run if Judge Sullivan did accept the government's motion to drop the case.  If instead Judge Sullivan denies the motion and sentences Flynn, then Trump will just pardon him, probably after the election to reduce the resulting political hit.  Once Flynn has been pardoned he can't be retried for crimes covered by the pardon.  If the pardon only covered the crimes for which Sullivan sentenced him, then he could be charged for other crimes to which he confessed in his plea agreement.  On the other hand Trump could provide a blanket pardon for all crimes that Flynn has committed, as Pres. Ford did for Nixon in 1974.

 

On the other hand if Sullivan were to accept the government's motion, then the prosecution would be dropped and Trump would be unlikely to issue a pardon.  That means that in January when a new Attorney General takes charge of the DoJ Flynn could be charged anew for any crime he has committed.  

 

Nevertheless, I hope that Judge Sullivan does charge Flynn and remands him immediately into custody so that he has at least a few months' experience inside.  The more important point is to block the "gross corruption" of William Barr.

12 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

<snip>

On the other hand if Sullivan were to accept the government's motion, then the prosecution would be dropped and Trump would be unlikely to issue a pardon.  That means that in January when a new Attorney General takes charge of the DoJ Flynn could be charged anew for any crime he has committed.  

<snip>

Is that correct? After all he has been tried/pleaded for these crimes already, only not sentenced yet. Doesn't double jeopardy apply?

29 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Is that correct? After all he has been tried/pleaded for these crimes already, only not sentenced yet. Doesn't double jeopardy apply?

Double jeopardy need not apply, since the current prosecution, having been abandoned by the DoJ, will never have been completed.  In fact, whether Flynn could be charged again depends on whether Judge Sullivan accepts the government's motion "with prejudice," i.e. the case cannot be brought again or "without prejudice," i.e. the case could be brought again.  If the case were dropped "without prejudice," then Trump could fully protect Flynn by issuing a Ford-type pardon for Flynn covering "all crimes he has committed or may have committed."

 

Also, the DoJ has never charged Flynn's son despite evidence that he was a party to some illegal activity.  A new DoJ could decide to pursue a case against the younger Flynn.

 

As it stands, I think it is exceedingly likely that Judge Sullivan will dismiss the government's motion and sentence Flynn to prison time.  Then it will be up to Trump when and if to issue a pardon.

On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 2:01 PM, Boon Mee said:

Flynn deceived into a crooked perjury trap is the gross abuse of power here. 

He admitted to the crime, you are truly deluded.