Somebody has to play powerful word games though.
What has Flynn pled to after the prosecutor says “no crime?” Assuming for sake of argument Flynn lied, that lie is not material, so there is no crime.
The plea is “guilty to the information” (there was no indictment). Okay, fine, but the information is fatally flawed. The facts in the case don’t support a finding of materially false statement. That’s what the Gov’t Motion to Dismiss lays out, with facts and evidence.
” Assuming for sake of argument Flynn lied, that lie is not material,...”
One does not have to go down that road in Flynn’s case. The reality is that the FBI does not a scintilla of evidence that can prove that Flynn lied in the interview. BUT there is evidence that the FBI lied.
The original FBI notes (302s?) made by the 2 agents (included Mr Strozk) who interviewed Flynn are missing! The FBI summary (a re-write and edit) of the Flynn interview says Flynn lied. BUT... there is FBI testimony before Congress that the agents did not believe that Flynn lied in the interview. So either the FBI lied to Congress, or the FBI lied in their summary.
Judge Sullivan had this type of thing happen to him before in the Ted Stevens political take-down where the FBI-DOJ lied. He did not use his contempt powers, but he was not very happy with the government. He had it investigated but nothing of substance ever resulted - none of the perpetrators went to jail. Yes, Stevens conviction was thrown out. Unfortunately he could not re-seat Stevens in the Senate.
One would think he’d be pissed now that the FBI-DOJ would come into his court and lie to him again (e.g. that all Brady material was given to the defendant). And if they lied to him, why would they not also lie to and about the defendant. BUT The judge earlier in the case showed personal dislike towards Flynn, even asked the DOJ if they considered trying him for treason. He quickly walked back his comments when he was called out immediately as being prejudiced against the defendant.
But I think the whole lynch pin to why the judge took a detour on his decision about dropping the charges against Flynn is because obozo, a non-party, sent the judge an ex-parte message through the DC media outlet last week by a conveniently “leaked” obozo private call about how dropping charges against Flynn is an attack against the rule of law. This is similar to BJ Clinton visiting Loretta Lynch behind the airport in AZ to “discuss their grandchildren” and shortly thereafter Comey ends the FBI work etc etc. The corruption here is extremely deep, and that’s an understatement.