Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan has issued a couple of extraordinary orders in the case of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn after the Justice Department moved to dismiss the case. Sullivan has not only decided to allow third parties to argue against an uncontested motion in a criminal case, but he has appointed retired judge John Gleeson to argue against dismissal and address whether Flynn should face a perjury charge from the Court itself. I have practiced in front of Judge Sullivan for many years. I have repeatedly praised him and expressed my respect for his demeanor and directness. However, these orders raised deeply troubling questions of judicial overreach and enmity. Despite my admiration for Judge Sullivan, I believe he is moving well outside of the navigational beacons for judicial action and could be committing reversible errors if he denies the unopposed motion or moves forward on this perjury claim.
I was critical of Judge Sullivan’s earlier order allowing the filing of amicus briefing in this case. There is no rule allowing for such third party briefing and Judge Sullivan previously rejected such briefing. He was right then and wrong now. While common in civil cases, such third party arguments raise troubling concerns in criminal cases as courts allow the public to argue for enhanced punishments or other measures. It is particularly troubling when the Justice Department itself not only found evidence of prosecutorial abuse but concluded that it cannot ethically proceed with the prosecution. Sullivan is effectively creating a dispute in a case where the defense and prosecution agree that a case should be dismissed.
My concerns have deepened with the latest order:
“Upon consideration of the entire record in this case, it is hereby ORDERED that the Court exercises its inherent authority to appoint The Honorable John Gleeson (Ret.) as amicus curiae to present arguments in opposition to the government’s Motion to Dismiss,” the judge wrote. “[I]t is further ORDERED that amicus curiae shall address whether the Court should issue an Order to Show Cause why Mr. Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt for perjury pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 401, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 42, the Court’s inherent authority, and any other applicable statutes, rules, or controlling law.”
The suggestion that Flynn could be charged with perjury for seeking to withdraw a plea is highly disconcerting. As a criminal defense attorney, my concern is that such a claim could be made in thousands of cases where defendants have sought to withdraw such pleas or allegations of prosecutorial abuse have been raised for dismissal.
The use of Gleeson both to argue against the motion and review possible perjury charges. One role is as an advocate while the other seems to be something like a quasi-special master. Gleeson is also a troubling choice given his public criticism of the Administration over the Flynn case.
The perjury charge would be based on 18 U.S.C. § 401, which states:
A court of the United States shall have power to punish by fine or imprisonment, or both, at its discretion, such contempt of its authority, and none other, as —
(1)Misbehavior of any person in its presence or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice;
(2)Misbehavior of any of its officers in their official transactions;
(3)Disobedience or resistance to its lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command.
Sullivan knows that such a charge would not be prosecuted by the Justice Department. However, Criminal Procedure Rule 42 states that such cases are to be prosecuted by the government “unless the interest of justice requires the appointment of another attorney … If the government declines the request, the court must appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.”
Such an extraordinary action would occur in the context of an already troubling record. Judge Sullivan was previously criticized for suggesting that Flynn could be charged with treason, including an earlier blog column here. He is now allowing third parties to make arguments in a criminal case on an unopposed motion and exploring a charge that he might be able to bring against Flynn. Judge Sullivan would not only ignore the agreement of the parties, the judgment of the Department of Justice, but effectively create a new case of his own making. At some point, the court risks the appearance of assuming both prosecutorial and judicial functions. A perjury charge leaves the appearance of a court imposing its own notion of justice through a dubious judicially-mandated criminal charge.
So let me get this straight: by this “reasoning” (1) every single plea change by a defendant is grounds for a perjury charge if the court (judge) so wishes it; (2) every “not guilty” plea in which a defendant is found “guilty” is potential grounds for an additional perjury charge since said defendant was found by a jury to be “lying”; (3) it’s permissible for the court to demonstrate and act on its contempt for a defendant whose politics it doesn’t like or agree with, and has the power to impose significantly negative consequences while being shielded from any accountability in real time.
Add to this a highly overreaching, corrupt government agency maliciously prosecuting with near limitless resources at its disposal, and we’re all supposed to pretend to wonder about the obvious rationale behind Lt Gen Flynn’s plea decision?
I guarantee if flynn were a black drug dealer, murderer, or rapist the “judge” would have no problem dismissing the case. this career bureaucrat should be impeached and dismissed.
Doesn’t that make you wonder? There are a lot of negatives for the left pursuing this case so one has to assume that vacating the judgement creates a lot greater problems for those involved. Now all that is left to think about is how high it gets.
The behavior of Sullivan is sufficiently madcap that he might just be getting senile. However, Obama’s message to his standing camarilla including signaling to Sullivan. Speculation: (1) there is something rotten at Covington and Burling, (2) Flynn knows something that comes out when the threat over his head disappears.
We now know also that something very peculiar was going on with confidential NSA data.
We also know that Nat Hentoff is dead. Look at the leftoid commenters here. Not one of them hasn’t thrown up a mess of chaff trying to defend gross prosecutorial misconduct. The unpleasant Mr. Greenwald down in Brazil may be the last leftist with a consistent set of principles.
“he might just be getting senile.”
DSS, but that doesn’t push him in one direction or the other
“(1) there is something rotten at Covington and Burling,”
“Not one of them hasn’t thrown up a mess of chaff trying to defend gross prosecutorial misconduct. ”
I have commented about that as well. …And by the way, thank you for reminding me of the Gish Gallop. It came in very useful.
Pointless. Case will get dismissed upon appeal. Speaker McCarthy will start impeach proceedings on this puppet in early 2021.
He’s a Maverick, like another narcissist we know. History won’t be kind, as it is now showing McCain to be a piece of sh!t.
McShame!
De amicus non curat lex
Well, ol’ Emmett Sullivan clearly has a bug up his a$$ concerning General Flynn. That’s been obvious for quite awhile. Is it political? Maybe. But I’m thinking it’s penis envy. Flynn is three-star general who served in combat for five years. Emmett is a graduate of mediocre Howard Law School and a life-long resident of the DC swamp. His credentials for appointment to a Federal judgeship were as thin as kool-aid, but we all know why he was appointed. It just irks him to no end to see a real man with real accomplishments that he just can’t begin to approach, being a soft-belly swamp creature. I actually hope this caricature of justice continues through the summer and Fall. More and more people need to see this obscene abuse of power as we approach the November election.
No clue what motivates him. My suspicion is that he’s had ex parte communications with Holder and / or Obama.
It is true his career in law up to age 37 was quite unremarkable, something you see in municipal court judges and superior court trial judges at the state level. I think appellate judges and federal judges usually have plummier backgrounds.
‘Political Washington’ encompasses a low-single-digit % of local residents around Washington. Families with a federal employee therein might account for about 20% of the local population. As a rule around Washington, you see the same sort of people you see in any densely-settled metropolitan center, with the one qualification being that the manufacturing sector is abnormally small. There isn’t much indication from capsule biographies that he was anything but an ordinary local resident. If he’d grown up in St. Louis, he’d have the same vita, bar that he’d have attended the local state school rather than a private HBCU. The one anomaly is that he did manage to score a federal judicial appointment, so he must have known someone.
Strange that Obama said several days ago that Flynn committed perjury and now Sullivan is suggesting same.
Good point. TIA X may be on to something….
.
Typical racist crap from segregationist advocate TIA.
Sullivan received his 1st federal bench nomination from Reagan, his 2nd from HW Bush, and his 3rd from Clinton.
As usual, Anon is playing the race card.
bookworm:
Your internet must be down since your kid could handle the argument without resorting to the race card as Allan points out. Try again once the connection is restored.
Typical racist crap from segregationist advocate TIA.
I gather the semantic content of “his career in law up to age 37 was quite unremarkable” is something you have difficulty processing. He was an associate at a Washington law firm for about seven years, and a partner for about four years. The firm in question may have had five partners and appears to have dissolved about 25 years ago.
Bug Boy– Hasn’t it occurred to you that it is racist to assume any criticism of a black person is racist?
Are we supposed to treat them like children? Coddle their expectations. That’s the slave owner attitude.
You allow at least a little dignity in believing someone can take criticism and stand up for himself or be wrong sometimes.
But you don’t really believe that, do you, Bug Boy?
Dude, you worship fat a.. Daddy’s boy Richie Rich Trump. Get oughta’ here with the racist macho BS.
Bug Boy.
TIN, Judge Sullivan was a Reagan appointee and Professor Turley is on record as praising Sullivan in the past. So your comments here are just deluded talking points by a member of the Trump cult.
Judge Sullivan: Liar! Liar! Your pants are on 🔥.
How else will they get to push the Pardon though? That cesspool they call NYC seems to be much more of a mucky diseased swamp than……. is it possibe……. the Swamp in DC.
I see that Turley is still waving his arms around and yelling…YOO HOO….Bill Barr I’m over here.
Judge Sullivan is 72. We have a relation who was diagnosed with ‘moderate cognitive impairment’ at age 68. I have a dear cousin whose husband was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at age 65. If you’re wondering about the source of the judge’s peculiar behavior, here’s one place to look.
No doubt you say the same about Trump, who is 73 and whose behavior is much more peculiar than Judge Sullivan’s.
Hardly. According to Sydney Powell, this same judged refused 24 times to allow 3rd party meddling in this case. Now that it has been shown to be a frame up, Obama has called in his marker and told Sullivan to gin up some charges, and Sullivan needs him some help inventing a New! Improved! frame up.
I was responding to the comment “Judge Sullivan is 72. We have a relation who was diagnosed with ‘moderate cognitive impairment’ at age 68. I have a dear cousin whose husband was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at age 65. If you’re wondering about the source of the judge’s peculiar behavior, here’s one place to look.” If s/he believes that about Sullivan, s/he should believe it about Trump too.
And it hasn’t “been shown to be a frame up.”
Successful people that earned their success frequently have some behavior that seems peculiar to those that go along with the flow and follow the leader. In Sullivan’s case he has provided the fodder to lead some to wonder if Obama is the leader being followed. The more pressure exerted against vacating the conviction the more credible that idea becomes.
Absurd, are you pretending Trump is ‘not’ a raving lunatic at 73?
Look at his Twitter Feed. Trump is unhinged from any facts or reality.
July Johnson:
I prefer his comments to yours any day.
They are trying to force President Trump to issue a pardon so they can use it against him, rather than answer for a corrupt court.
Absolutely.
This is political.
Persecution by a Democrat partisan.
Very perceptive comment and spot on ! This judge has long pretended to be a fair jurist and is nothing of the sort. He is a political partisan on the bench and playing many partisan games with other peoples lives beyond wrongly but actually criminally. He should be removed as many others should be. Consider this, after the last 4 years of schemes that have clearly been exposed at DOJ/FBI and other seriuosly corrupted gov agencies how manny judges and lawyers need to be prosecuted for their own criminality ? This all goes back to and part of legislating from the bench and all of it should be prosecuted as a crime ! This judge is a criminal and nothing less using the system as a poltical bludgeon. Turley is a very naive fool and his kind of thinking has given rise to all of this garbage thinking. He cannot just come out and tell it like it is, he has to soft peddle it all with quasi intellectual BS !
Wonder where the judge learned how to use ot all s a tool and weaponized bludgeon, Hey ? Wake up Turley and call a spade a spade for once you mealy mouth ! You are maybe 1/2 way there ?
I’ve lost track of Mr. Shill.
Does anyone know Mr. Shill’s new nom de inconnue?
My guess is Ethan Edwards
He has been using several. That is his personality split or fragmented.
July Johnson is another one
Outstanding
***
A Time to Hate
https://spectator.org/a-time-to-hate/
Rabbi Dov Fischer, Esq., a high-stakes litigation attorney of more than twenty-five years and an adjunct professor of law of more than fifteen years, is rabbi of Young Israel of Orange County, California. His legal career has included serving as Chief Articles Editor of UCLA Law Review, clerking for the Hon. Danny J. Boggs in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and then litigating at three of America’s most prominent law firms: JonesDay, Akin Gump, and Baker & Hostetler.
I accepted Obama. I never articulated his first name, and I never called him “president,” but I accepted the results and accepted that this Pretender was our country’s lawfully elected chief executive. I watched his arrogance, the unctuous way he carried himself literally with his nose up, the way he never held a railing while walking a stairway because he was too cool, the kinds of human dreck he regularly invited as his White House guests, and I accepted it all with the soft whisper, “This, too, shall pass.” I watched the Corrupt Journalist Corps idolize him, crown him a king, admire him as a messiah and a deity, and I accepted the milieu. This, too, in time would pass. It meant living through eight years of the deepest public corruption. Lois Lerner stealing an election by leveraging the awesome power of the Internal Revenue Service to close down legitimate conservative political groups. Eric Holder — the nobleman who urged people to kick enemies — bringing lawlessness and corruption into the Justice Department, even approving the “Fast and Furious” idea of releasing lethal weapons to Mexican drug lords in the cockamamie scheme to find out how they access and move their weapons. Glenn Beck exposed Obama’s Maoist communications director, Anita Dunn, who walked children through the White House. There was ACORN. Just one corruption after another.
We got Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and Benghazi as testimonial to her vision. We got Susan Rice, an idiot, raised paradoxically to head of national security after spending a day lying on five television stations about Benghazi and later going on to describe Bowe Bergdahl, a coward and deserter, as a hero who had served with honor and distinction. We got Loretta Lynch, who some thought would clean up Holder’s corruption of Justice, only to find that she ended up in bed with the Clintons at the height of the probe of Hillary’s corruption. We saw the world’s worst murderers freed from Gitmo so that they could rejoin the war against America.
The waters did not stop rising on Obama’s watch. The Earth was not healed. On his watch, a country that finally had healed itself from the shame and scourge of imposing slavery on human beings more than a century earlier, a country that had atoned and that had created and institutionalized a new social infrastructure by which people no longer were denied because of their skin color or religion — a country that reflected that healing by electing a Black man president despite his manifest lack of personal achievement, close ties with an organized-crime felon, and questionable biography — suddenly erupted into a new era of racial bitterness. Michael Brown and Ferguson aflame amid the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” lie promoted by Obama and by Eric Holder but shot down by a Missouri grand jury. Freddie Gray and Baltimore aflame followed by a series of outright judicial exonerations handed down by a Black judge who saw that every accused cop had acted properly and lawfully. A lowlife killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, a thug whom Obama told us would have been the likes of his own son if he had had a son. Eight years of racial divide, social division aimed at tearing us up as a color-blind and religion-blind American People, just to promote electoral successes
Continued…
***
When the Mets finally took it all in 1969, the other teams accepted the results. They lost gracefully. Now it was the Mets’ turn, and they had won it fair and square. But these past three years have been something different. Trump and Pence won fair and square. But there was no grace. Rather, there was instant character assassination, instant war, instant denial. Advertisements urging electors to violate their Electoral College oaths. Fabrications of collusion with Putin. Investigations that hamstrung a presidency. Lies and innuendoes leaked and published by the unindicted co-conspirators we call the “mainstream media.” A never-ending hunt to find scandals and Trump accusers: a bimbo who pole-danced at bars, her lawyer who now dances behind bars, another crooked lawyer who tape-recorded his own clients and now is locked up, disbarred from the Bar. One cartoon character after another.
As a rabbi of 40 years and a person who believes that most people have the potential for goodness, and who tries to find the good even in people who disappoint until they absolutely close off the possibility of goodness being discovered within them, I now have learned to hate.
I have come deeply to hate. I hate that Donald Trump never was given a chance to be president of the United States for even one day’s honeymoon. I hate that, long before he won the presidency — fair and square — corrupt crooks and criminals in the United States Department of Justice, its Federal Bureau of Investigation, were actively plotting to take him down. I hate that there are so few outlets in the media that give voice to condemn the criminality and corruption that broke every accepted societal norm by which we play the game. I hate that Obama was in on it, yet continues to pontificate on what is just and on what threatens freedom.
I hate that they all keep getting away with it. Every single one of them gets away with it. There is absolutely no price to be paid on the left for perjury, for conspiracy to overturn a legitimate election, for treason.
Lt. Gen. Flynn never deserved what was done to him. He was targeted for destruction by criminals and crooks in the FBI. They set out to destroy him. The FBI is not allowed to bother law-abiding people like you and me, to set us up, and to induce us to commit a crime. They are permitted to pursue criminal investigations only when they have a predicate before them. In the case of Flynn, they had in their possession a complete recording and transcript of his phone call with Sergey Kislyak. Yet they interviewed him and asked him to tell them what was said during the call. The Bureau of Investigation was not investigating; they already knew the answer. Rather, they were setting him up to speak a falsehood, to commit the crime of lying to the FBI, an act whose criminal dimensions he did not appreciate as a layman. They dissuaded him from having an attorney at the interview so he would slip into the trap. A competent attorney would have protected him. Frankly, a competent attorney would have killed the interview in the first place or would have wrangled terms that would have negated its purpose, much as Hillary did.
For each question, even if such an interview ever would have happened, an attorney like me would have been saying, alternating between my client and his interrogator: “Lieutenant General, you do not have to answer that question. Go ahead, what’s the next question?” Or “Lieutenant General, please wait a moment. What is the purpose of this question? What exactly are you asking?” Or “My client, the Lieutenant General, is delighted he could give you eight minutes of his valuable time today. If you want to ask him any more questions along these lines, send us a subpoena. We will study it and let you know our thoughts.”
They took advantage of a good man who suddenly found himself combating in a different kind of military theater outside his field of expertise. He knew the jungles of Afghanistan, not the jungles of the Justice Department in Washington. The slime dregs of Justice, the Peter Strzoks and Andrew McCabes of the FBI, knew this. They had the lieutenant general on their terrain. He never should have been questioned about the call. He never should have been sucked into an interview without an attorney present. He never should have been lulled into what he said to the FBI.
mjmichaels2 :
“As a rabbi of 40 years and a person who believes that most people have the potential for goodness, and who tries to find the good even in people who disappoint until they absolutely close off the possibility of goodness being discovered within them, I now have learned to hate.”
****************
It’s a evolution for you and a good one. There is evil in the world and it’s everybody’s business to say so, identify it when we see it and resist it as best we can. That said it does not compromise us as moral people to realize this and act. Perhaps it makes us so.
As the ancient rabbi said, “The myrtle that grows among thorns is a myrtle still.”
Wow, the fruitcakes have been unleashed and theye are warriors for that paragon of virtue, defender of the faith, and true blue patriot, Donald …………. T r u m p ?
Im sure the wisdom from the Talmud — indeed any long work of prose — is beyond your sensibilities but I’d counsel the wisdom of Mark Twain who famously said about folks like you: “‘It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.”
M J Michael’s, your efforts to paint Donald Trump as an oppressed innocent would be comical if it wasnt so twisted. It’s like the Donald Trump in your world is a cuddly teddy bear with love for everyone.
Trump has been investigated for criminal behavior in every conceivable way, and nothing has been found. He may be boorish, and say things that some believe to be un-presidential, but he’s not a criminal. And no one considers him to be a teddy bear. The fact remains that Flynn was framed. Obama, Biden, and others conspired to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power, and resistance members continue to undermine the government at this time (e.g. Vindman).
So if we accept the behavior of Obama and others, does that mean that it’s okay if Trump now uses the NSA to spy on Biden? Can he use the CIA to pay foreign intelligence personnel to plant information on Biden campaign officials, and then later use that information to claim that they broke some never used law from 1799? To leak false stories to the press, under the guise of unnamed government officials?
How sad that a Rabbi doesn’t take “Thou shalt not bear false witness” more seriously.
More fluff and stuff. Judge Sullivan received Flynn’s guilty plea, both in writing and via oral testimony, in which he said he was pleading guilty because he IS guilty of lying to the FBI. Judge Sullivan convicted Flynn, and the only thing left to do was sentence him. Then came various motions to delay sentencing because Flynn was allegedly cooperating with the DOJ, while Trump’s fixer, Barr, was looking for a way to avoid having Trump pardon Flynn. That’s the truth, and it stinks to high heaven. There was no “prosecutorial abuse”–no one coerced Flynn into lying under oath or to work against the interests of the US by simultaneously serving as acting national security advisor while simultaneously being a paid consultant for Turkey. There is no such thing as a “perjury trap”. No one can coerce someone to commit perjury. Just tell the truth.
Judge Sullivan, unlike Barr and Trump, respects the oath he took to protect and defend the Constitution. Judge Sullivan knows full well that the only reason Flynn is trying to withdraw his guilty plea is for political reasons, not reasons related to the administration of justice, yet Turley accuses Judge Sullivan of being biased against Trump. Why not comment on Barr letting a high-profile crook escape justice for lying under oath for political reasons? Why not comment on the career prosecutors who withdrew from this case and the reasons why? That also is highly unusual, and it sends a message.
There is nothing within the emails or other documents recently released that changes the fundamental fact that Flynn lied to the FBI and that he was working as a paid consultant while acting as national security advisor, another crime to which he pleaded guilty. When Flynn testified that he was pleading guilty because he IS guilty, that was under oath, subject to the penalties for perjury, and since nothing recently uncovered changes that fundamental fact, and because Judge Sullivan is duty-bound to achieve justice, he is not required to simply dismiss the conviction because Trump’s fixer wants this. If the judge had no say-so or discretion, then it wouldn’t be necessary to seek leave of court, and that is by design, to prevent just this sort of abuse. There are no mitigating circumstances, no recently-discovered exonerating evidence, no grounds that would support a motion to re-open the case in the interests of justice. Flynn did lie, and confessed to this, under oath, and he was represented by very competent counsel. He should be held to the “penalties for perjury” in the oath he took.
Judge Sullivan did what a federal judge (or state judge for that matter) is supposed to do–obtain justice. Barr has repeatedly shown that he is not America’s top prosecutor–he is just another pawn for Trump. Unlike Barr, Judge Sullivan is not politically-motivated.
“Judge Sullivan, unlike Barr and Trump, respects the oath he took to protect and defend the Constitution.”
Is that why he is making a mockery out of his proper legal role in a 48a dismissal motion?
They didn’t follow their oaths office. So I’m not going to follow mine either. So there.
“Judge Sullivan is not politically-motivated.”
As Obama would say, that is a bunch of “Okie doke.”
Apparently no have not attended to law school. At least not in this Country.
What rubbish.
So if the FBI agents who interviewed him stated in their 302s that he did not lie, but then doctored the 302, went after his son with bogus charges, all to get Flynn to plea, while withholding the evidence from Flynn, you think that is OK ? All this proves is that all you libs have TDS to the hilt. You are not classic liberals anymore, you are Hitleresque sir. Evil personified, but then again all you libs are like that now.
Thanks Obama!
“There is nothing within the emails or other documents recently released that changes the fundamental fact that Flynn lied to the FBI and that he was working as a paid consultant while acting as national security advisor, another crime to which he pleaded guilty.”
Oh but there was….were you not paying attention? Flynn’s counsel has proof that the DOJ altered the 302’s that the FBI has yet to produce. There is evidence that has been released where the lower agents wanted to drop the case because they felt that Flynn wasn’t lying but was overruled by the 7th floor leadership. Covington has been caught dead to rights in violating all kinds of ethics in how they handled Flynn’s case. I will be surprised if they even exist when all this is over with.
To say that Flynn wasn’t completely setup and that this was justice served honestly sounds delusional.
There is evidence that has been released where the lower agents wanted to drop the case because they felt that Flynn wasn’t lying but was overruled by the 7th floor leadership.
____________________________________________________
Sorry but that version of the facts does not work.
Even the FBI leadership has said they had nothing on Flynn.
The false story that Flynn denied discussing sanctions during the FBI interview did not get invented until after the FBI was removed from the Russia investigation and the Mueller team took over.
Both Flynn and Mueller lied to the court by claiming that Flynn had denied discussing sanctions with Kislyak.The judge should be going after the 3 prosecutors that put their names on the fraudulent plea deal.
WHY DID FLYNN PLEAD GUILTY TO LYING? Regardless of the propriety of meeting with the Russian Ambassador, Flynn denied meeting with Kislyak, which is a lie. Even Trump said Flynn lied to Pence when he fired him. Did you forget that? Hasn’t Kellyanne come up with a spin or pivot for that one? How do you “set up” someone to lie to you? You get your spin from Fox News, that much is clear.
Regardless of the propriety of meeting with the Russian Ambassador, Flynn denied meeting with Kislyak,
____________________________________________________
Oh stop lying. That story is even more ridiculous than the lie Mueller came up with.
It was public knowledge that the FBI had listened to the phone call and Flynn was well aware they had a transcript. He never denied talking to Kislyak.
Jonathan Turley, has some major flaws in his argument. It’s actually legal and well within Sullivan’s power to alllow third party amicus briefs and appointing the other judge. Turley only said Sullivan rejected previous instances, not that they weren’t allowed. Then he seems to ignore the fact that under oath Flynn TWICE admitted guilt and stated he was not coerced into lying.
Sullivan’s move exposed a flaw in the DOJ’s argument. Either Flynn lied to the FBI, or he perjured himself in court. Both cannot be true. Then there’s another undiscussed situation that arose yesterday where a former DOJ officials who was part of the “discovery” of these new documents is undermining the DOJ’s reasoning. Sullivan will have to include this new evidence in determining the dismissal. So far it looks like the DOJ is not looking too good in its attempt to dismiss Flynn’s charges.
Turley Most Disengenous Passage Ever
Has Professor Turley completely departed mainstream America? This column could be proof. Turley wrote the following passage in complete defiance of reality:
“Sullivan is effectively creating a dispute in a case where the defense and prosecution agree that a case should be dismissed.”
In writing this, Turley disregards the fact that Lead Prosecutor in the Flynn case, Brandon Van Grack, resigned just hours before Attorney General Barr ordered the case dismissed.
What’s more, 1,900 former DOJ Officials signed a letter of protest slamming William Barr’s decision to abandon this case. One could also note that former Special Counsel Robert Mueller was given no input regarding the abandonment. Therefore Turley comes precariously close to an outright lie by saying “prosecutors agreed to drop this case”.
Mary B McCord, the former Deputy Attorney General who supervised Flynn’s prosecution, wrote a lengthy Op-Ed piece on Monday accusing A G Barr of “twisting her words” regarding oversight of Flynn’s case.
One might further note that prosecutors in the Roger Stone case resigned in protest after William Barr interfered during the sentencing phase of that effort. Stone’s former Lead Prosecutor, Johnathan Kravis made a point of blasting Barr’s interference in Flynn’s case. Barr has essentially functioned as Trump’s personal lawyer in both the Stone and Flynn cases.
Sadly it appears Professor Turley has taken up permanent residence in Trumplandia and no longer makes any pretense of being an independent legal scholar.
“What’s more, 1,900 former DOJ Officials signed a letter of protest slamming William Barr’s decision to abandon this case.”
**********************
Well the Spartans only needed 300 for their historic massacre, so I guess efficiency was better in the ancient world.
mespp – the Spartans had backup. 😉
Paul:
As in “back up against a cliff” there at Thermopylae.
Mespo– Paul is right. Several other cities sent hoplites to help the Spartans. Two thousand comes to mind but could have been fewer. I think they were allowed to leave before the final battle. The cliff and sea protected the Spartan flanks. A traitor showed the Persians a secret path thst allowed the Persians to get behind as well as in front of the 300.
Ah, the feckless no-Spartan hoplites and the infamous goat path all led to Leonidas’ echoing-through-history reply when threatened with Persian arrows that would block out the sun, “Then,” the great captain of Spartan said, “we shall fight in the shade.”
https://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531
Ephialtes, a crippled self hating goatherd betrayed the Lakedaemonians in exchange for riches from the foreign king.
We know the type, these slimy Ganelons we see active on TV all the time betraying their own folk.
Young – from the Encyclopedia Britannica
The Greek army was led by Leonidas, who was estimated to have had around 7,000 men. Xerxes, on the other hand, had anywhere from 70,000 to 300,000. Despite the disparity in numbers, the Greeks were able to maintain their position. Their strategy involved holding a line only a few dozen yards long between a steep hillside and the sea. This constricted the battlefield and prevented the Persians from utilizing their vast numbers. For two days the Greeks defended against Persian attacks and suffered light losses as they imposed heavy casualties on the Persian army. Only when the Greeks were betrayed did the battle take a detrimental turn for them. Ephialtes, a Greek citizen desiring reward, informed Xerxes of a path that went around Thermopylae, thus rendering the Greeks’ line useless in preventing forward advancement of the Persian army.
Love Leonidas but the top ranked hero of ancient times still has to be Horatius at the bridge.
mespo – are you going just pi$$ on poor Xenophon’s grave? Was he just a potted plant?
Paul:
More philosopher than mercenary (The 10,000–Greeks love numbers) and who developed the theory of strategic retreat, Xenophon never defended a bridge over a rushing river with two friends against an army of thousands.
mespo – Xenophon gets his troops home alive and writes a great book about it.
Paul:
He did indeed. Horatius saved his home city and got a great poem out of it:
https://www.bartleby.com/360/7/158.html
mespo – yes, he got a poem, but he didn’t write it. He did not paint the paintings of him either. 😉
It would be interesting to know exactly how one thousand nine hundred ex-employees of the Feral Government all just happened to come together to sign a letter. Who wrote the letter? How did they contact 1900 liberal democrats who worked for the DOJ? Just how does that kind of thing work exactly? The deep state liberals are crapping all over themselves. It’s actually fun to watch.
Molon Labe – I think they belong to an email chain.
I suspect that if you audited the list, you’d find a lot of padding.
The petition is talking point fodder. The behavior of the FBI, Van Grack, and the judge is a grotesque scandal. That so and so many quondam DoJ employees endorse such conduct makes this worse, not better.
United to Protect Democracy (UPD) was founded in 2017 because of Trump’s victory. It’s a leftist group typically misnamed because it doesn’t exist to protect democracy.
“Obama lawyers team up to fight Trump”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/320765-obama-lawyers-group-to-fight-trump-report
Dear Will Kane,
Apparently, you have little real world legal experience. Let me help you! When a prosecutor resigns from a case, a NEW prosecutor gets appointed! The NEW prosecutor has all the powers of the OLD prosecutor.
This may have been something you were unaware of. Another thin that you may unaware of is that when the Prosecutors dismiss charges, the Judge is supposed to sign off on it. A UNANIMOUS SCOTUS recently ruled that stuff like bringing in Amici Curie stuff is a bad no-no. Sooo, the person here who is out of step with the law, is Judge Sullivan.
Professor Turley was nice enough to point that out to you, so if I was you, I would hit the books and become better informed. You are not going to get too much good legal info from pro-DNC bloggers and talking heads.
You can page up in the comments and you will see REAL legal cases, like Fokker, that will guide you!
You are welcome!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeaky in this case the prosecutor resigned just hours before Barr dropped abandoned prosecution.
these 1900 “former officials” are enemies of the people too now. let their names be kept and recorded. there should be lawful reprisals but reprisals nonetheless
“the left” not in the ideological sense but in the sense of the usual Dem leadership powers that be, has had a clear insight at least since the time of Rahm emmanuel, that power must punish its adversaries and rivals, in order to grow.
these 1900 enemies of the people should have lawful consequences to their stupid petition, but consequences nonetheless. if there is a “right” or any organization behind the Trump phenomenon, and I seriously doubt most days whether there is, but if there is, then it should add 1900 names to its “ShT list”
this contest of will and organization will not be resolved only by endless chatter. not in the end it won’t. if the Trump phenomenon fizzles and fails, there will be reprisals against Trumpists. Make no mistake they will take scalps. Better man up and win. and take some scalps yourself while you still can.
There are over 100K employees at Justice, getting ~2% to sign a petition is not an overwhelming argument.
It wasn’t just DOJ lawyers and it wasn’t just the present >100,000 lawyers. It included any lawyers that worked for the DOJ and they felt it necessary to go as far back as the Eisenhower administration.
In writing this, Turley disregards the fact that Lead Prosecutor in the Flynn case, Brandon Van Grack, resigned just hours before Attorney General Barr ordered the case dismissed.
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Van Grack quitting may not mean what you think.
There is a lot of evidence emerging that indicates the prosecutors were misbehaving also.
It is pretty clear now that Flynn never did deny that he discussed sanctions with Kislyak. In other words, Flynn never said the lies that the prosecutors claimed he did. Both Flynn and the DOJ prosecutors lied to the court about what Flynn said during the FBI interview. And to me the prosecutor’s lies seem far more egregious than Flynn’s lies.
Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan’s fate is the same as that of the 7th Floor and the Obama “holdovers” in 2016; it depends on the outcome of the election. If Biden wins, Sullivan will receive the Medal of Freedom in the White House. If Trump wins with the House and Senate, Sullivan will be impeached, convicted, drawn and quartered – Obama will be allowed to watch from his prison cell – and justice will have been done.
Please.
Sullivan has probably been promised an appointment to the Supreme Court by Soros and his puppet Obama.
At 72 years old? No Democrat would waste a pic on someone the next President could replace.
The notion being raised by Sullivan — that a plea made by the defendant carries the risk of perjury consequences — is a bridge too far. A plea is not a statement of fact. It is a procedural decision allowed to every defendant. The defendant’s free choice in that decision simply cannot be eclipsed by the threat of consequences if the Court disagrees with the “correctness” of the plea.
In any event, Flynn and his attorney have solid evidence that FBI/DoJ made several Brady violations (intentional deception of the defendant and Court) on the way to securing a guilty plea, as well as clear violations of 4th Amendment protections (Priestap’s handwritten note).
It is shocking that a Federal Judge would veer so far out of his lane to placate a political mob.
If what you say were not true, every defendant who pleads not guilty and is then convicted could also be punished for perjury. That would include innocent defendants who are pressured into pleading guilty.
“A plea is not a statement of fact. It is a procedural decision allowed to every defendant. The defendant’s free choice in that decision simply cannot be eclipsed by the threat of consequences if the Court disagrees with the “correctness” of the plea.”
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Unfortunately, Judge Roy Sullibean made Flynn plead under oath that the guys with a figurative gun to his kid’s head had done nothing wrong, and thereby set this whole thing up.
A plea is not a statement of fact.
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A statement of fact was filed along with the plea agreement.
Flynn swore that “under penalty of perjury it was true and correct”