‘Gross Abuse Of Power’: Outside Attorney Calls For Court To Ignore DOJ Attempt To Drop Michael Flynn Case
Alexandra SternlichtForbes Staff
Business
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/06/10/gross-abuse-of-power-federal-court-review-of-flynn-case-criticizes-justice-department/#41c571ce40c9
Updated Jun 10, 2020, 01:52pm EDT
TOPLINE
A third-party attorney appointed by a federal court in Washington, D.C., to argue against the Justice Department’s request to dismiss its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn accused the agency Wednesday of a “gross abuse of prosecutorial power” by “attempting to provide special treatment to a favored friend and political ally of the President of the United States,” and recommended that Flynn be sentenced for the charge of lying to the FBI that he has withdrawn his guilty plea for.
KEY FACTS
“It has treated the case like no other, and in doing so has undermined the public’s confidence in the rule of law,” said retired federal judge John Gleeson in a brief he filed Wednesday.
Gleeson also argued that Flynn had committed perjury by pleading guilty and then attempting to withdraw his plea, however, Gleeson recommended that the court should not separately prosecute Flynn for that and should take the perjury into account when sentencing him.
Gleeson was appointed by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to fight the government’s motion to dismiss the case and determine whether Flynn should be held in contempt of the court for either perjury or withdrawing his guilty plea.
Meanwhile, Flynn’s legal team has challenged Sullivan’s ability to appoint Gleeson, which will be argued on Friday at Washington’s U.S. appeals court, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Everything about this is irregular,” said Gleeson in the brief.
Crucial Quote
"The facts surrounding the filing of the Government's motion constitute clear evidence of gross prosecutorial abuse. They reveal an unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President Trump," wrote Gleeson in the brief.
Key Background
In early May, the Justice Department filed a motion to drop its case against Flynn, saying the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of Flynn was “untethered” and “unjustified.” This happened after a review from an outside prosecutor—who was assigned by Attorney General William Barr—recommended that the Justice Department drop the case.
Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak regarding election interference. In the early months of 2020, Flynn’s attorney’s alleged the FBI had mishandled the case, requesting to revoke Flynn’s guilty plea; the motion was denied by the judge.
