Posted on 05/24/2020 10:36:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Michael Flynn case has gone off the hinges. In reality, there is no case. The Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss the case against the former national security adviser after new documents showed a large-scale plot from within the FBI to entrap Flynn despite a lack of evidence concerning Russian collusion. Remember, Flynn made some phone calls to the Russians which made him a target. These weren’t pernicious calls.This was standard operating procedure for any incoming administration. Yet, James Comey wanted to get Flynn at all costs.
No one has opposed the motion to dismiss. The prosecutor has resigned there is no case, but Judge Emmet Sullivan wants to keep this circus act going. He’s allowing Trump-deranged lawyers to file amicus briefs and appointed a retired Judge John Gleeson to fight the DOJ motion and see if the federal courts could file perjury charges against Flynn, now that he’s fought to withdraw that plea deal regarding the bogus “lying to the FBI” charge.
Sullivan is overreaching and Flynn’s legal team has filed a new petition to drop the case and get the former general out of legal purgatory. The DC Court of Appeals could have rejected the writ of mandamus outright. They didn’t. Instead, their actions point to the court being highly disturbed by Sullivan’s actions, as they’ve ordered him to respond personally to the writ in the next ten days. The petition, filed by Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, calls for the case to be dismissed, the judge removed, and overall legal relief for her client. Sullivan had called Flynn a traitor in open court. It shouldn’t be shocking if a good chunk of this writ is agreed upon. Some legal advisers noted that this writ has already climbed a huge hurdle with a response like this, which is the most drastic of options for Sullivan.
Yet, his actions in response to the Flynn legal team’s writ of mandamus has raised some eyebrows; he’s hired a high-powered attorney to do his work for him in this area (via WaPo):
The federal judge who refused a Justice Department request to immediately drop the prosecution of former Trump adviser Michael Flynn has hired a high-profile trial lawyer to argue his reasons for investigating whether dismissing the case is legally or ethically appropriate.
In a rare step that adds to this criminal case’s already unusual path, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has retained Beth Wilkinson to represent him in defending his decision to a federal appeals court in Washington, according to a person familiar with the hire who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is now examining the judge’s actions and the larger case against Flynn after lawyers for President Trump’s former national security adviser asked the court to force Sullivan to toss Flynn’s guilty plea.
Wilkinson, known for her top-notch legal skills and get-results style, is expected to file a notice with the court in the coming week about representing the judge. She declined to comment when reached Friday evening. Sullivan also declined to comment through his office.
A federal judge doesn’t typically hire private counsel to respond to an appeals court…
What is Judge Sullivan thinking? A judge tells Court of Appeals he needs a lawyer to represent him on his management and rulings in a case? Where outcome, whether he likes it or not, is obvious under Circuit precedent? Are plaudits for anti-Trump cred worth his reputation? 1/2— Andy McCarthy (@AndrewCMcCarthy) May 23, 2020
He’s totally entitled to fume on the record that Flynn looked him in the eye and swore that he lied, that Flynn’s erratic litigation strategy caused the court needless effort, and that he thinks DOJ is wrong. But the law requires him to grant the dismissal. Do your job. 2/2— Andy McCarthy (@AndrewCMcCarthy) May 23, 2020
Flynn update via WaPo:
Judge Sullivan - ordered to explain his reasons for not granting the DOJ motion to dismiss - has hired a lawyer to apparently do his work for him. pic.twitter.com/7kGeolVRn4— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) May 23, 2020
Certainly an odd development. Theres no reason Sullivan can't respond to appeals court order himself.
WapPo:
"A federal judge doesn’t typically hire private counsel to respond to an appeals court"
Unsure if the appeals court will allow this.
Full story:https://t.co/70chy4CKsZ— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) May 23, 2020
I am less harsh on the idea of a judge hiring a lawyer, just because his day job might be very busy. But bluntly, I find it weird that he has hired such a high powered attorney who is also likely very expensive on a judge’s salary. Unless he’s pro bono
Cc @mVespa1 @PolitiBunny https://t.co/2ry1VufZ8e— (((Aaron “Worthing” Walker))) (@AaronWorthing) May 24, 2020
Question: is there any indication this is pro-bono? Because if not, that’s a ridiculous amount of money to spend on it. Cc @mVespa1 https://t.co/qXyYLQT8Go— (((Aaron “Worthing” Walker))) (@AaronWorthing) May 23, 2020
DC-based lawyer Aaron Worthing asked if Wilkerson was doing this pro bono since the bill is probably going to be quite steep, especially for someone on a judge’s salary.
There was speculation that Sullivan refused to toss the case, appointed Gleeson to keep it going, and hoped this could spill into after the election, where a Democratic DOJ could drop the motion to dismiss.
If that was the game plan, it could get torpedoed soon.
He should hire Flynn’s lawyer. She’s done a great job!/snicker
Same thing with Durham's work. It's critical that some punishment is meted out before the election. Losing the Senate or presidency and/or failure to retake the House will mean EVERYTHING is shut down and they will all skate. It's bad enough that most of them are going to skate, but this would be a disaster.
DNC paying the bills?
The major Washington firms do pro bono work all the time for highly politicized causes. It's just another form of political warfare. One firm that can remain nameless represented Greenpeace in a suit against the Navy for colliding with one of their protest vessels. That firm, almost entirely allied with the Democratic party, had lobbying arms and law partners raking in tens of millions of dollars representing the defense industry (and thereby, arguably raising the cost of acquisition of weapons systems and technology for the nation's defense) but managed to find the time to represent, gratis, a protest organization that was suing the Navy (thereby driving up the cost to the taxpayers of defending the suit.) A nice snarky move, that allows them to attribute the hours donated as pro bono representation, while getting in some kicks and generating some bad press for the Republicans in the White House at the time.
The role of law firms acting as cut outs - a law Perkins Coie in the Russiagate Scam - is something as big as the proverbial 900 lb. gorilla in the living room, that the press in DC cannot manage to find with both hands. So, expecting them to notice this pro bono practice is maybe a bit much...
I may be Captain Obvious, but someone this biased shouldn’t be a judge. How he rose up the ranks into his position is beyond me.
To quote Skeletor, Sullivan is an actual retard.
18 U.S.C. § 242 - U.S. Code. Deprivation of rights under color of law.
In Sullivan’s mind, the ends justify the means.
This judge is going to wind up out on his arce.
In Sullivan’s mind, the ends justify the means.
Number one rule in the communist leftist playbook
What if the Judge was part of it? I admittedly have nothing to back this up and I will give the benefit of the doubt to the court in what has been a highly irregular case from start to finish, but why has this case dragged on for so long?
Was the goal to punish Flynn or to keep him silent? As long as this continues he is under a gag order by the court. Is that more important to the deep state than their pound of flesh?
What is it that Flynn will say once this gag order is lifted and is that the reason it has dragged on for years? Will Flynn come out and talk about the pressure the special counsel persecutors put on him to make something up about Trump? They did that to Papadopoulus who has said so multiple times.
Was there backchannel communication going on between the Judge and the conspirators? I would have to see evidence of this, but the whole thing is so bizarre and legally tenuous that I cannot dismiss the “conspiracy theory” out of hand.
They could have moved for sentencing long ago, but they didn’t. Why? The only benefits I can see to dragging this out are to keep Flynn silent, preserve the talking point for the left/media, and not deal perhaps the biggest blow to the already eroded credibility of the Mueller investigation.
They know they are not going to “punish” Flynn, but until the case is formally dismissed they can muzzle him. That appears to be the goal and the court now appears to be trying to carry it out with the bizarre legal wrangling (at least until November).
I understand and commiserate, but the fact is that our nation's law schools are inundated with liberals, who choose who gets accepted, and who determine the curriculum. They promote group think, and there are few groups in the nation more arrogant (with less reason) than law professors.
That we have any reasonable and conservative judges is somewhat miraculous. Regarding 'rising up through the ranks', in all walks of society this is determined less by talent and hard work, and more by politics. It's just the way things are - but they need to change.
Beth Wilkinson is David Gregory’s wife.....she was also Kavanaugh’s attorney! He almost didn’t survive!
What intercept -- produced by Comey/Brennan/Clappers' illegal domestic use of "The HAMMER" (illicit surveillance supercomputer) at Ft. Washington, MD -- provided the "dirt" with which they are blackmailing Judge Emmet Sullivan?
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