Some stories speak for themselves and don't need much comment to make the point. One such is Attorney General William Barr having the Justice Department withdraw charges against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn who plead guilty to a felony and was fired by Trump for lying to Vice President Pence and to the FBI. So, yeah, ho-hum, Barr and Trump wanted the case dropped because.
All I'll add are two points that suggest the situation for Flynn might not be over. The first is that Judge Emmet Sullivan has to accept the Justice Department's decision to drop the case. One reason that's in question is that the reason the Department has given for dropping the case is that Flynn's lies (or indirect equivocations, they're now calling it...) were not relevant to the underlying investigation. The problem for Flynn is that Judge Sullivan has already ruled on that very issue when Flynn's previous lawyers raised it, and ruled the opposite, that they were indeed relevant. So, the judge may require to the Justice Department to explain their reasoning, and if he doesn't think they're valid could keep the case going. The second is that in Flynn's plea deal, he admitted under oath to several other crimes. So, even if the case is thrown out, those other crimes -- which, again, Flynn has admitted to under oath -- are actions that he could now be prosecuted for. Clearly, the current Department of Justice is not going to file charge on them. However, the statute of limitations won't run out until 2022. So, if there is a new Administration under a new Attorney General, new charges against Flynn for crimes he has admitted to under oath could be filed. Of course, that requires a new Administration, and also a willingness to pursue the matter and not have it been seen as political retribution. But then, given that Flynn did admit to the crimes under oath, that might make a prosecution far more reasonable and, even perhaps, seen as justified. I don't know what will happen. I don't expect Flynn to end up going to prison now, just because that's the Trump World we live in, but -- that means nothing. Because there's a larger world and there is also an outrage at this egregious miscarriage of justice. So...we'll see. Operators are standing by.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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