AP Exclusive: Justice Dept dropping Flynn’s criminal case

AP ^ | 5/7/2020 | By MICHAEL BALSAMO and ERIC TUCKER

[RaceBannon]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for Trump and his supporters in attacking the FBI’s Russia investigation.

[gcparent]

Judge is unpredictable.

[Future Snake Eater]

I certainly have my issues with LTG Flynn, and I hope he’s learned a valuable lesson from this episode. However, it was a pure travesty what happened to him. I’m glad it’s over.

[bagster]

I don't see it that way.

From your profile page;

And, No I don't think any of them will ever spend one day in jail. But worse than that I expect few if any to ever even been indicted.

I've always believed that the normal visible processes would hopefully result in prosecutions.

Wait. So you don't think that the results of the Trump team (Q) wouldn't result in 'normal visible processes'? They're the only one there are, other then rendering the mfkys with a secret kill squad (which I'd prefer, frankly).

Any machinations the Trump people (Q) perform behind the scenes (and they do) have to be enacted out in your normal visible processes. That's why its taking so long for this shit to jump off. This is a long game and not one to conform to you impatient babies. It has to be done right.

Q makes no 'predictions' unless he's absolutely sure of the result. All else is THE PLAN and expecttions based on expected derp action. Plans can go wrong in the day to day skirmish. Timetables can change based on counter-attacks.

How come your big brain doesn't know this?

And so, no: "Things happening show just how wrong he's been these past two years". they don't.

Your overall pitch has been that nothing was going to happen, all the while unprecedented information has been DECLAS'd, the likes we have never seen in American history. The derp schemes are seeing the light of day for the first time EVER. So much so that the Flynn case was dropped, and that information is being used to prosecute those guilty of it.

The dominoes have been and are beginning to fall. You said they never would. Its too late to back track now, soya. You made your doomer bed, as much as you MAY appreciate the results of the plan.

If that's true, then don't forget to recognize Trump and his Q program for the part they played. And for waking up some of us to the cancer within, in all of its manifestations.

Now if Military Tribunals at GITMO are announced along with 50,000 unsealed indictments and the Marines going door-to-door to serve them and arrest Deep Staters under martial law.

Its bad manners to cite the interpretations of some as representative of all. There will most likely be no marines kicking in the doors moment. Maybe no Gitmo military tribunals. And then again, there may be.

But rest assured, my bunny. There will be lots and lots of action. Flynn is the first domino. The setup is complete. The removals and insertions are done. The system is at go time.

Just a matter of time now. And timing is everything.

Anyone who disagrees with the value of Q on the Q-threads is considered a Deep State Shill.

Not so, little rabbit. Just those who act like its their job to shut down the Q movement, which is you. There are others, but you're the champ. You attempt to endear yourself to get on the inside, while at the same time insidiously sewing seeds of doubt and division. You know you do this. You're doing it right now.

Many bought your shtick, because you can be quite charming. But some of us have special skills and a PHD in human behavior with a minor in Trolling, and were onto your game.

But you go ahead and rewrite history. ...calling me little mean names, like this: And a soi boy.

Mean names? I think soi boys are adorable. And the world needs baristas too, am I right? Don't get your feelers hurt, soya.

I once described myself on the Endless Thread as "Bagster's principle antogonist".

Yea, but I think you spelt it right that time.

I'll give credit where credit is due, soya. You were a challenge, maybe the biggest one I've faced on FR. You even had me fooled for a nano-second. Ransomnote chastised me for my naivete. She gets those things right about half the time. I get 'em right the other half.

Now give me credit for making you blow your cover at least once and coming ugly, revealing your true agenda. And you gotta admit, that jew thing was powerful anti-soya repellent, right? You made that bed, I just worked it.

...but Bagster himself has always had a light and humorous touch (that not everyone else is able to understand, apparently) and I am actually quite fond of him, as rivals in sports come to appreciate their greatest opponents.

See? Charming. You know my weak spot and try to exploit it, like an A-1 troll should. Too bad for you, I'm the master.

A for effort, though.

Now, prepare to have your hopes and your chart crushed in the days to come. I will be here to laugh at you, and the rest of the doom squad out here beyond the trees, where no man of hope dares to go.

[shalom aleichem]

I dropped Barr (for now)

[Wiz-Nerd]

Consider this AP article’s view with the reporting of The Epoch Times:

DOJ Drops Case Against Michael Flynn
BY PETR SVAB May 7, 2020 Updated: May 7, 2020 Print

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped its case against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and former national security adviser to President Donald Trump.

Flynn pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to one count of lying during a Jan. 24, 2017, interview with the FBI.

“The Government has concluded that the interview of Mr. Flynn was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn—a no longer justifiably predicated investigation that the FBI had, in the Bureau’s own words, prepared to close because it had yielded an ‘absence of any derogatory information,’” said Timothy Shea, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, in his May 6 motion to dismiss (pdf).

Since the government wasn’t “persuaded” that the FBI interviewed Flynn with “a legitimate investigative basis,” Flynn’s guilty plea was irrelevant—to be a crime, a lie needs to be “material,” which means it has to have “probative weight” on the investigated matter, Shea said.

“Moreover, we not believe that the Government can prove either the relevant false statements or their materiality beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The Flynn case has been a focus for criticism among Trump supporters against a number of mostly former top FBI officials involved in the investigation dubbed Crossfire Hurricane.

The probe, launched in 2016, was to determine whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to sway the presidential election. It was taken over in May 2017 by a special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who concluded in March 2019 that the probe was unable to establish any such collusion.

Several reviews of the Russia investigation uncovered a plethora of irregularities and malfeasance. At least some of the investigators themselves are currently under criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham.

Flynn responded to the news by posting on Twitter a video of his grandson reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

“My grandson Travis…’and JUSTICE for ALL,’” the retired general wrote.

The dismissal of the Flynn case was recommended by Jeffrey Jensen, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, who was directed in January by Attorney General William Barr to perform a review of the case.

“I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jensen said in a May 7 statement released by the DOJ. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.”

The move follows a recent release of documents that show the FBI was about to close the Flynn case on Jan. 4, 2017—nearly three weeks before the Flynn interview.

“Believing that the counterintelligence investigation of Mr. Flynn was to be closed, FBI leadership … determined to continue its investigation of Mr. Flynn on the basis of” his December 2016 calls with then-Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak and “considered opening a new criminal investigation based solely on a potential violation of the Logan Act,” Shea said.

The purported basis was that Flynn allegedly voiced to Kislyak policy preferences of the incoming administration on several issues, including a request that Russia delay a United Nations vote on Israeli settlements and for Russia to only respond reciprocally to fresh sanctions imposed in late December 2016 by outgoing President Barack Obama.

The Logan Act, passed in 1799, prohibits Americans from conducting diplomacy on their own with countries that the United States has a dispute with. Only two people have ever been indicted for allegedly breaking it, the last one in 1852. Neither was convicted.

The investigation was never opened, as “discussions with the Department of Justice resulted in the general view that the Logan Act would be difficult to prosecute,” Shea said.

The Flynn–Kislyak calls “were entirely appropriate on their face” and “did not warrant either continuing that existing counterintelligence investigation or opening a new criminal investigation,” he said, noting that “such calls are not uncommon when incumbent public officials preparing for their oncoming duties seek to begin and build relationships with soon-to-be counterparts.”

The FBI had “word-for-word” transcripts of the calls, and there was nothing in them “to indicate an inappropriate relationship between Mr. Flynn and a foreign power,” Shea said.

“Indeed, Mr. Flynn’s request that Russia avoid ‘escalating’ tensions in response to U.S. sanctions in an effort to mollify geopolitical tensions was consistent with him advocating for, not against, the interests of the United States.”

Instead of opening a new investigation based on the Logan Act, then-head of FBI counterintelligence operations Peter Strzok worked to keep the original counterintelligence investigation open on behalf of the “7th floor” on Jan. 4, 2017, as shown by contemporaneous text messages with then-FBI attorney Lisa Page, who was at the time his mistress as well as special counsel to Andrew McCabe, then-deputy director of the bureau.

About a week later, information about the Flynn–Kislyak calls began to be leaked to the media while speculation that Flynn violated the Logan Act circulated. Flynn then denied to several members of the incoming Trump administration that he discussed the sanctions with Kislyak.

A number of top officials in the DOJ and the intelligence community argued that the Trump administration should be informed that Flynn didn’t describe the calls accurately. But then-FBI Director James Comey pushed back, according to Shea, and instead directed McCabe to send Strzok and another agent into the White House to interview Flynn without informing either the DOJ or the White House.

According to Shea, there was no justification for the interview.

“Whatever gaps in his memory Mr. Flynn might or might not reveal upon an interview regurgitating the content of those calls would not have implicated legitimate counterintelligence interests or somehow exposed Mr. Flynn as beholden to Russia,” he said.

Flynn agreed with McCabe’s interview request, saying the FBI already knew what was said in the Kislyak calls anyway. During the interview, he denied clear recollection of the request to Kislyak regarding the sanctions and denied asking for Russia to vote a certain way or delay the UN vote, the agents’ notes from the interview indicate.

Strzok and the other agent came away with the impression “that Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying,” Strzok later told one of Mueller’s prosecutors.

“Under these circumstances, the Government cannot explain, much less prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, how false statements are ‘material’ to an investigation that—as explained above—seems to have been undertaken only to elicit those very false statements and thereby criminalize Mr. Flynn,” Shea said.

In January, Flynn asked District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who presides over his case, to allow him to withdraw his original guilty plea. In a declaration to the court, Flynn asserted innocence, saying his plea statement is false and that he only signed it because of his former lawyers’ “ineffective counsel” and because prosecutors threatened to charge his son.

He’s accused his former lawyers, from the firm Covington and Burling, of keeping key information from him, including about the full scope of a conflict of interest the firm faced regarding the case.

Also, Shea said, Flynn had pleaded “without full awareness of the circumstances of the newly discovered, disclosed, or declassified information as to the FBI’s investigation of him.”

Covington and Burling had no comment when reached by The Epoch Times via email.

Flynn’s current lawyers, led by former Texas prosecutor Sidney Powell, have argued for months that the case should be dismissed for government misconduct and in the interest of justice.

[rolling_stone]

judge could be he won’t the doj in their request for dismissal briefed or presented evidence that the judge does not have the authority read starting page 10

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/07/politics/michael-flynn-doj-dismiss-charge/index.html

[RaceBannon]

Q is nostradamus for millenials

[stylin19a]

His plea deal also included a FARA guilty plea about being an unregistered agent for turkey...for which his partner walked in a separate trial due to lack of evidence.
Is that part of the case being dropped? It’s not Russia. And Turkey doesn’t seem to be addressed in the motion for dismissal.
Turkey is mentioned in Exhibit 6, but only as part of the narrative.
Maybe the Turkey FARA issue might get taken care of with what Van Grack is doing?

Otherwise? Does Judge Sullivan still have something to work with?

[TXnMA]

"I dropped Barr (for now)"

~~~~~

Fair enough. (for now)...

By a week from now... nous verrons...

FRegards,
TXnMA     '-)
  

[Cboldt]

Docket: United States v. FLYNN, 1:17-cr-00232
Charging "Information"

The only charge is false statements. Interesting point is Flynn was never indicted, no grand jury. Guilty plea short-circuited that.

The highly credible exposure of Team Mueller corruption, including a detailed public record, was enabled by having this lawsuit in place. Team Mueller really dug a hole here.

The government motion to dismiss, notably NOT by Team Mueller, is a thing of beauty. First time in history a Special Council was shredded and exposed as pure partisan hackery.

And this is just the opening move. More to come.

-- Does Judge Sullivan still have something to work with? --

Sure. The guilty plea itself. The conduct of Team Mueller (withholding evidence). He'll have to choose what to do there on his own, the only motion active before him is government motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.

[sevlex]

“Can’t tell ya.

It’s on the QT and very hush hush.”
~~~~

Nice reference.

I immediately got an image of Danny DeVito in a fedora.

[bagster]

I immediately got an image of Danny DeVito in a fedora.

Yay. Somebody gets me.

[Jack Black]

He'll have to choose what to do there on his own, the only motion active before him is government motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.

Interesting statement, that got me thinking. There are actually three motions (at least) pending before the judge, as even the DoJ's filing notes.

1. There is the original motion by Flynn's counsel that he be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea, which is mostly based on the poor and conflicted representation he had from his previous law firm, Covington. That motion has been pending for many months now, but Judge Sullivan has not ruled on it, in part because Covington is still coughing up documents that (may) further support the arguments being made by Flynn's lawyer.

2. There is the slightly later motion filed by Flynn's counsel that the case be dismissed due to prosecution misconduct and in the interest of justice. This motion has also been pending for a couple months, and it is held up because the Government has not completed turning over the exculpatory evidence, which again will be used by Flynn's lawyer to bolster the claims she is making.

3. And now, added to this is the third pending motion in the trial, the one the DOJ filed yesterday.

So, it's interesting to speculate about whether Judge Sullivan grants one of these other motions, or addresses all of them, or ignores the older one and just accepts the clear "emergency exit" that the DOJ has provided.

What happens if he accepts Sidney's Powell's motion to dismiss the case? Does he do that with or without prejudice? Maybe he accepts her motion to dismiss, but allows the DOJ to refile? That would be the Deep State play at this point.

[Cboldt]

Flynn has tentatively withdrawn a few motions.

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.199.0_5.pdf

The spat between Flynn and Covington survives.

[Jack Black]

I watched an interview with Mike Cernovich yesterday (who is a lawyer) and he said that Flynn's case against Covington is a cinch, in part because of the statements made by Eric Holder while his firm was representing Flynn. He estimated low-to-mid seven figures.

He also said that the government case was a little trickier, but suspected they would settle for $5-$10 million.

These would be very nice outcomes, but as Cernovich said it doesn't fully make up for what has been done to him, and to the country by FedGov.

May the indictments fall like rain!

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

First time in history a Special Council was shredded and exposed as pure partisan hackery.

Of course they say, "It wasn't partisan. Mueller was a registered Republican." I have heard that said to me many times in person.

Mueller certainly acted in the interests of dems, and made sure his team was loaded with dems, but of course many "Republicans," like GWB, hate Trump.