As I understand it, it is possible the judge in the Michael Flynn case could choose to not drop it.
The Department of Justice on Thursday told U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington it wants to drop the case against Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, following a pressure campaign by the Republican president and his political allies.
While judges typically sign off on such motions, Sullivan could refuse and instead demand answers from the DOJ about who requested the sudden about-face, said Seth Waxman, a former federal prosecutor now at the law firm Dickinson Wright.
“If Judge Sullivan wanted to he could conduct an inquiry and start asking a lot of questions,” said Waxman. …
… While the judge still has to rule on the submission, elated supporters of Flynn said there was no way Sullivan could force the department to prosecute if it did not want to. But the judge could stop Flynn from withdrawing his guilty plea and impose sentence. In that case, Trump could pardon Flynn.
It would be better to force Trump to pardon Flynn than to sign off on dropping the case, IMO. Absurdly, the Trump campaign sees Flynn as their Nelson Mandela, a hero persecuted by the evil deep state. I’m not seeing anyone who is not already a Trump cultie being impressed with that, though.
The notoriously independent-minded federal judge who once said he was disgusted by the conduct of Michael Flynn could block the administration’s bid to drop criminal charges against the former adviser to President Donald Trump, legal experts said.
The Department of Justice on Thursday told U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington it wants to drop the case against Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, following a pressure campaign by the Republican president and his political allies.
While judges typically sign off on such motions, Sullivan could refuse and instead demand answers from the DOJ about who requested the sudden about-face, said Seth Waxman, a former federal prosecutor now at the law firm Dickinson Wright.
Marcy Wheeler dissects the DOJ’s arguments for dropping the Flynn case here. I am not going to attempt to sum this up except to say that she makes a good case that the judge is more likely to be annoyed than impressed with the DOJ.
“If Judge Sullivan wanted to he could conduct an inquiry and start asking a lot of questions,” said Waxman.
Stay tuned.
See also:
David Frum, The Secrets Flynn Was Desperate to Conceal
Susan Hennessey, Quinta Jurecic, Benjamin Wittes, An Ugly Day for the Justice Department
Paul Waldman, Barr’s corrupt decision points to Trump’s moral rot of our institutions.
So it is that Attorney General William Barr, having already worked to secure a lighter sentence for Trump pal Roger Stone, has now given former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn the equivalent of a get-out-of-jail-free card, abandoning the case against him just as Flynn was about to be sentenced.
Soon after, Trump spoke on the phone to Vladimir Putin, and the two had good reason to celebrate together. While Putin’s 2016 effort to get Trump elected was in large part an attempt to discredit western democracy, he could barely have imagined how effective it would be. Not only is our election system now in a credibility crisis, Trump has made our legal system a joke, too. What could make Putin happier?
See also Trump cryptically tells reporters ‘a lot of things’ might happen soon following call with Putin.
President Trump is celebrating throwback Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump told reporters on Thursday that he spoke on the phone with Putin and the two discussed the investigation into Russian election interference. That investigation determined that Russia had meddled to aid Trump in 2016, did not find prosecutable proof of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and did not determine whether administration officials sought to obstruct the probe.
Reiterating his displeasure with the investigation, Trump said the “Russia hoax” was “very hard” on the U.S. and Russia’s foreign relations. “And we discussed that,” said Trump of his call with Putin, also noting he offered to send Russia ventilators to aid COVID-19 patients.
Would those be some of the ventilators confiscated from hospitals and states, I wonder?
