Mike Flynn exoneration: delay, delay, delay

The DOJ responding to prodding by AG Bill (B2) Barr, has dropped its case against Gen. Flynn in the Washington, D.C. circuit court.

The DOJ vacated the charges against Flynn, refusing to prosecute him on the frame-up orchestrated under Barr's predecessors, including J. Sessions. The "evidence of guilt" has been totally destroyed. Some, like the initial hand-written FBI 302s have been lost. Other 302's have been edited by amongst others, Lisa Page, who was not a percipient witness to any involved interviews and would not be so, since she was not an investigator, but only a legal advisor in the FBI.

Brandon Van Grack, lead persecutor of Flynn, who apparently has now "lawyered up" to protect himself for willful violations of Judge Sullivan's explicit admonition that the DOJ MUST supply the defendant and the court with Brady material, indicative of possible exculpatory evidence. Sullivan was once painfully sucked into a case brought by elements of the USG in which significant Brady material was knowingly withheld by the USG.

Okay, now. This should be simple. No plaintiff exists, since Uncle Sam withdrew from pursuing prosecution. Easy, peasy. Let Flynn off the hook and let him and the country go about its business.

But no. Anything for a stall. First "the Watergate prosecutors" want to file an amicus curiae brief advising the court that Flynn committed perjury or at least admitted guilt or some such legal nonsense.

The effect of the Amicus brief would simply be to delay the inevitable. The Watergate prosecutors, now 40+ years past their prime, just wish to delay the inevitable. They have nothing factual to offer than legal opinions. These opinions involve whether a guilty plea can be vacated and the quibbles.

Look at Judge Emmet Sullivan's official biography.

He is a true child of the swamp. Nominated at various times by the following cast of ne'erdowells: GHW Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan. Before ascending to the bench, he was a partner in al law firm noted to be a judge factory:

In 1973, Judge Sullivan joined the law firm of Houston & Gardner. He subsequently became a partner and was actively engaged in the general practice of law with that firm until August 1980, when his law partner, William C. Gardner, was appointed as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Thereafter, Judge Sullivan was a partner in the successor firm of Houston, Sullivan & Gardner. Over the years, ten lawyers from the Houston law firm went on to become judges.

Now if that ain't swamp born and bred, then ain't nothing else is.

So, before we sing: "It's all over now", take note of Judge Emmet's mind whirring about delay, delay delay:

Federal judge mulls contempt charge against Michael Flynn

A federal judge is signaling that he might pursue perjury or contempt charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn over his effort to abandon a guilty plea to a charge of lying to the FBI.

The Justice Department moved last week to drop the prosecution of Flynn launched by special counsel Robert Mueller, but U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan slammed the brakes on that effort by announcing Wednesday evening that he is appointing a former federal judge to argue against the government’s unusual bid to dismiss the case against an ally of President Donald Trump.

Sullivan’s order also directed the retired judge, John Gleeson, to recommend whether Flynn should face a criminal contempt charge for perjury — apparently for declaring under oath at two different court proceedings that he was guilty of lying to the FBI, before he reversed course in January and claimed he had never lied.

Sullivan’s announcement appears to shatter the hopes of Flynn’s defense team that the court case will quickly fade away. Instead, the retired general who spent a little more than three weeks as national security adviser before being fired by Trump faces a legal brawl that could drag on for months.

Gleeson, who was appointed to the federal bench in New York by President Bill Clinton and retired to enter private practice in 2016, has already staked out a position deeply skeptical of Attorney General William Barr’s decision to abandon the Flynn prosecution. The ex-judge co-authored an op-ed earlier this week that decried the move.

The case isn't over until the judge says it's over

Here's the reasoning:

The department’s motion to dismiss the Flynn case is actually just a request — one that requires “leave of the court” before it is effective. The executive branch has unreviewable authority to decide whether to prosecute a case. But once it secures an indictment, the proceedings necessarily involve the judicial branch. And the law provides that the court — not the executive branch — decides whether an indictment may be dismissed. The responsible exercise of that authority is particularly important here, where a defendant’s plea of guilty has already been accepted. Government motions to dismiss at this stage are virtually unheard of.

But because such a maneuver vacating an existing guilty plea is virtually unheard of, does that mean it is illegal. Is there any legal precedent for such a move being illegal? If there isn't, then due to absence of precedent, there is nothing besides bias to delay the exoneration of Gen. Flynn.

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Alligator Ed's picture

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CB's picture

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snoopydawg's picture

A federal judge is signaling that he might pursue perjury or contempt charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn over his effort to abandon a guilty plea to a charge of lying to the FBI.

This judge knows damn well that the FBI didn’t have any reason to question Flynn, but did it anyway. And then there’s the proof that they altered documents and hid that from the court. He effing ruled on it. Wrongly but he knows about it. This seems to be heading for malicious prosecution. Hopefully our resident lawyer will weigh in.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@snoopydawg Thy name is Brandon van Grack plus a cast of DOJ muggers.

Okay Brandon, who told Da Judge E. Sullivan there is no Brady evidence. Nope. None. Not a bit. Oops. Along comes Richard Grennel, acting DNI who says: "Brandon, you are fibbing". But da Judge don't believe no damn DNI, be believe theObma team's head quacker, Brandon van Duck Grack.

P.S. Brandon has lawyered up, as they say on the Hill. Why do you think that might be?

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

...into an act of perjury. And every lawyer involved into a conspirator.
And in a way, that's true.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Pluto's Republic

This is such a good point on plea deals. How many innocent people are sitting in prison right now because they were either coerced into a confession or because they were scared to get a longer sentence than offered because their jury might not believe that you didn’t do anything?

Flynn was coerced into pleading guilty because they were going after his son if he didn’t. This on top of Strzok and Comey's dirty dealings and how they changed the 302 and then refused to turn it over to the defense. But sure judge you go after the person who got screwed instead of the ones that screwed him. They were going after Flynn’s son on not registering as a foreign lobbyist IIRC.But Flynn hadn’t done it either as didn’t Manafort. But Tony and John Podesta are walking free and they worked with Manafort in Ukraine. Hmmm.

If they can land a conviction under the Logan Act it would bring that law into play in the 21st century. I suspect this could relate to Juiian Assange

How does that work?

Stone was filmed by CNN getting arrested with SWAT being called on him. Tacky as hell.

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@Pluto's Republic I wouldn't hesitate to withdraw a guilty plea if I found evidence that the government had mitigating evidence they withheld from me.
What you look at is the evidence you receive in pre-trial discovery. The client claims they didn't commit a crime, but you are looking right at evidence that tends to prove guilt. A lawyer has to weigh it, advise the client accordingly, and entering a plea of guilty does usually make prosecutors less aggressive during punishment phase.
Now, a judge can hold anyone in contempt for lying under oath. The situation presented by this case is really off the charts. While nobody is coerced to enter a guilty plea, there is often immense pressure on a defendant to eliminate as much risk as possible and 5 years in prison beats the hell out of 99, if the case goes to trial.
This will be appealed, and I think Flynn will be ok with our Supremes.
A lawyer could not be a co-conspirator.
We don't have our clients under oath, have no idea if they are lying to us or not. We often find out the hard way, in the damn middle of trial.
Bottom line, Flynn's lawyer saw evidence of guilt, did not receive the mitigating evidence as required by Brady, could not properly advise his client, and it was a cluster, all caused by crooked prosecutors and FBI agents.
I have had a string of felony dismissals in the last couple of years. No judge balked at the prosecutors request. Very strange this judge is so active.
Very strange.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Alligator Ed's picture

@on the cusp co-conspiritors. If they participate in a felony or even a misdemeanor, can't they be charged. Isn't willful withholding of Brady material despite an explicit Brady order by Judge Sullivan prior to trial a crime of some sort? How, about, for starters, contempt of court?

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@Alligator Ed defense attorneys. Not prosecutors.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Pluto's Republic's picture

...wrapped around the Flynn incident that it really is mind boggling.

Let's see... this tactic is all about Michael Flynn's son. He's been the pawn in this intrigue from the beginning. The Obama people were so confident that they blocked every exit for Flynn. Now they are just mad.

They needed him on the books for lying to the FBI. They seem to think that lie is key to bringing in the Logan act, which was a law passed in the 18th century. (It's so unconstitutional that no one has ever been charged or convicted under it.) That's another detail that's has been flying under the radar this whole time. If they can land a conviction under the Logan Act it would bring that law into play in the 21st century. I suspect this could relate to Juiian Assange, and potentially provide some legal cover for rogue Obama operatives who tried to overthrow the elected government of the US from 2016 to 2019. The Law proposes that it is a serious crime for a US citizen to say or do anything that influences a foreign government to act in a different way than the State Department wants them to act. Something like that.

And speaking of Flynn's son, this past decade has produced a bumper crop of DC dads getting caught wile they were trying to hook their sons up to the flow of of tainted money and power that churns through the corrupt swamps of Washington. As you know, ed, it's a feature of life in low places. For some reason, I always think of Seth Rich when I think of the guilder nepotism that takes place there. Seth Rich was idealistic and ambitious, and he was bootstrapping his way into some impressive circles of trust. But he was a child of MainStreet and didn't have the blood of the Families coursing through his veins to protect him.

Wasn't Flynn's son a bit of a wing nut? I seem to recall him being involved in PizzaGate and other DC shenanigans. When the FBI started spying on Flynn, he and his son were involved in one of those Hunter Biden-type schemes. I'm not looking any of this up. I'm writing my recollections that flow better when I'm not trying too hard. Maybe connections in Ukraine were involved. Maybe not. Initially, the FBI were eying the son and licking their chops. And the next thing we hear is that Flynn abruptly accepts a plea bargain, and his son is never mentioned again..

Remember, everyone around Flynn — anyone who had touched the Trump campaign and also had friends in foreign countries — were dropping like flies and heading to the slammer.Hwever, no prosecution was more depraved than the hostile arrest and persecution of Roger 'Kafka' Stone. But that's another story for another time....

The thing that has the Obama operatives flying around like panicked bats is what was included in the sealed Grand Jury notes that were withheld from Flynn's defense team. The missing texts from the psychodrama between Lisa Page and Peter Stroch popped out and were of immediate interest. In the course of exonerating Flynn, their torrid and fraught text conversations seem to point to the White House as their higher authority. Such loyal saboteurs.

You must have seen that in the news, right? Juicy.

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snoopydawg's picture

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@snoopydawg A section of O's ass just got ripped off.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@snoopydawg

to the woodshed - brightened my whole day, thanks for the link.

Was going to post this speech by Sidney Powell some time back buy lost the thread and never got to it.

Her thoughts on "How to Fix Justice" - at Hillsdale College March 2020. Gets into her background as a young prosecutor in Texas, her involvement (in private practice) in appeals against malicious prosecutions related to Enron and Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and much more - including Anthony Weiner's laptop...

Go get 'em, Sidney

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@snoopydawg
Thank you for posting this! If Sydney Powell's letter isn't the final word on this mess, I don't know how the cabal is going to twist it.

I'm so glad she focused on the McCabe injustice, and I'm in awe of her willingness to name Names in the effort to destroy Flynn. Wow. Thanks.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Linda Wood

Obama presidency should be considered a crime spree because of all the things he did and was never held accountable for because 1) criticizing him was racist 2) he knew how to baffle people with bullshit and cover up what he was actually doing 3) he was oh so charming and look at his beautiful family 4)... the list is too long to cover.

Here is Jimmy talking about Obama's real scandals and it's brutal.

Stuff it, Barry. You will be remembered not as the second coming of FDR, but as Hoover instead.

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to President Obama, as posted upthread by snoopydawg, is very important, paragraph by paragraph on the legal issues, but it's especially important because it dispenses with the politeness and deference you would expect, his being a former President. He uses that expectation to make a terrible, weak assertion and she ignores it and responds as if he were a lawyer making a terrible argument. It's as if we're no longer playing games!

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/flynns-lawyer-excoriates-obama-open-...

To: Barack Hussein Obama
From: Sidney Powell
www.SidneyPowell.com

Date: May 13, 2020

Re: Your Failure to Find Precedent for Flynn Dismissal

… Most important, General Flynn was honest with the FBI agents. They knew he was—and briefed that to McCabe and others three different times. At McCabe’s directions, Agent Strzok and McCabe’s “Special Counsel” Lisa Page, altered the 302 to create statements Weissmann, Mueller, Van Grack, and Zainab Ahmad could assert were false. Only the FBI agents lied—and falsified documents. The crimes are theirs alone.

(from the footnote)

… 1As a “constitutional lawyer,” surely you recall that perjury (or false statements) also requires intent to deceive. … The FBI agents who interviewed General Flynn specifically noted that his answers were true or he believed his answers to be true—completely defeating criminal intent. Furthermore, General Flynn knew and remarked they had transcripts of his conversations.

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@Linda Wood

the quotation marks!

"constitutional lawyer"

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