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Michael Flynn Tag

Donald Trump has issued a full pardon to former General Michael Flynn, who was wrongfully targeted by the FBI during the 2016-2017 transition as part of a broader effort to undermine and sabotage the incoming administration.

On June 24, 2020, a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Judge Emmet Sullivan to grant the government's motion to dismiss the criminal case against Michael Flynn. That Order would have become effective, requiring Sullivan's compliance, 21 days after that date (July 15). In an attempt to forestall compliance, on July 9, Sullivan filed a Petition for Rehearing En Banc, seeking a ruling by all 11 active judges on the appeals court.

On Obama's last day in office, January 20, 2017, National Security Advisor Susan Rice wrote an email memo to herself (pdf.) regarding the investigation into Michael Flynn and a January 5, 2017, meeting attended by Obama, Biden, Rice, Sally Yates, and James Comey. The email was mostly public previously, though supposedly classified portions were redacted.

Judge Emmet Sullivan has opened up the District Court criminal prosecution to an outsider, former Judge John Gleeson, to argue why Sullivan should not dismiss the case against Michael Flynn even though the Department of Justice wants to drop the case based on FBI and prosecutorial misconduct. Gleeson has a documented history of hostility towards Flynn.

In my post last night, I suggested that Judge Emmett Sullivan likely was in the process of deciding who to appoint to argue the government's (former) position as to whether DOJ would be permitted to drop the case, Judge in Michael Flynn case may allow ‘amicus’ briefs on whether to drop case – is there reason for freak out?

The Department of Justice, after concluding that the prosecution of Michael Flynn was the product of misconduct by FBI and DOJ officials, moved to drop the case against Flynn. But not so fast. Flynn pleaded guilty, a plea that the DOJ motion to drop the charges calls into question. A judge has discretion whether to allow a case to be dropped, but normally if the prosecution doesn't want to prosecute, a judge will not force a prosecution. But where a guilty plea has been entered and accepted by the court, and a motion to withdraw the plea rejected by the court, the court has a lot more power because the prosecution, in a sense, is over already. Only sentencing remains.