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.
Sooo,did the bad boys of Ted Stevens prosecution go to jail or did Eric Holder care ????? After all,they were his team ,so what if they committed crimes as prosecutors....
Judge sullivan was probably offered a book deal... judging Flynn... but not now
I like General Flynn’s shades.
Foolish man. If you have no charges, you have no case and that's the way it is.
His attorney is going to tell him to resign.
No one has said it, so I'll say it: Someone is bankrolling Sullivan, probably in an account in the Caymans.
Not the first time this Judge has pulled this crap. Go to wiki and see the case in 2009.
Indeed. He should have dismissed the case. Now he put himself under scrutiny and will go out on a corrupt judge note. All for Hussein.
His arce was paid to retire in the 8 and 9 figure range by the likes of Soros. As long as he keeps this up until after the election.
Yup....the judge pulled this same cr** before.
That is my inclination. Why would a criminal defense attorney side with a judge and write his response to the appleate court? Seems to me her client pool would dry up rather quickly..
I don't like Flynn so I'm probably the best person you could ask about this, because I don't have a dog in this hunt.
If I were Flynn's counsel I would permit him to go on FoxNews and call this judge everything but a wm. I mean, contemptible utterings. Raise awareness of this to a fever pitch.
While later the same day, file for emergency cert to SCOTUS, as earlier posters have noted under Constitutional color of law. It would be a pretty damn good case for SCOTUS to restate the law regarding this extrajudicial scenario, particularly as it flies in the fact of their Sineneng-Smith 9-0 whammy issued just a couple of weeks before, so the odds are above-average SCOTUS would take up cert.
Would also file a de novo action from Flynn against Judge Heboon -- both against him a representative of the District Court and severally against Heboon himself -- and allege that mandamus isn't sufficient nor is it expeditious, and base it instead on habeus corpus and the idea that the government is now fully estopped from pursuing any further action against Flynn, and that Heboon is acting as judge and jury to prevent that.
Not to my knowledge. Until sentenced, he is gagged.
Yes, there is really no other explanation for this blatant behavior.
There’s a money trail if someone would bother to snoop around.
Judge Sullivan, you give us no choice but to accelerate the prosecution and individual civil cases against the individual DOJ and FBI agents responsible for the prosecutorial misconduct.
He was first appointed by Reagan (1984 - DC Superior Court), then by G.H.W. Bush (DC Court of Appeals), then Clinton (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia).
Other Sullivan Cases per Wiki:
Sullivan presided over a number of habeas corpus petitions in the early 21st century submitted on behalf of men detained by the United States military at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as part of President George W. Bush’s response to the 9/11 attacks of terrorism.
Sullivan presided over the 2008 trial of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, who was convicted of seven felony ethics violations in October. During the trial, the judge refused requests by the defense for a mistrial to be declared, after information was revealed that the prosecution had withheld exculpatory Brady material. Eight days after the guilty verdict, Stevens narrowly lost his reelection bid. As more evidence of prosecutorial misconduct became known in early 2009, Judge Sullivan held four prosecutors in civil contempt of court. On April 1, 2009, following a Justice Department probe that found additional evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, the Department of Justice recommended that Stevens’ conviction be dismissed. On April 7, 2009, Sullivan set aside the conviction and appointed a lawyer to investigate the prosecution team for criminal contempt. Subsequently, one of the four prosecutors held in contempt committed suicide. Ultimately, Sullivan dismissed the civil contempt charges, and no additional charges were brought against the prosecutors.
In 2014, Sullivan was presiding over a case, Judicial Watch v. IRS, related to an ongoing investigation into the 2013 IRS controversy. There was an attempt to determine where the deleted emails of former IRS employee Lois Lerner had gone, what damage to her computer hard drive occurred, and what steps the IRS had taken to recover the information contained in the emails and on the hard drive.
In 2015 Sullivan presided over a FOIA lawsuit involving the matter of Hillary Clinton’s private email use while Secretary of State.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a woman and her child fled domestic abuse in El Salvador to seek asylum in the U.S. However, the mother was removed from her detention facility and likely put on a plane on August 9, 2018, despite Justice Department promises that she and others would not be deported before the judge could rule on their cases. Sullivan demanded, “Turn that plane around.” He threatened to hold those responsible for the removal in contempt of court, starting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, if the situation was not rectified. A Department of Homeland Security official stated, “We are complying with the court’s requests...the plaintiffs will not disembark and will be promptly returned to the United States.”
President Donald Trump
In a lawsuit against President Trump, Sullivan presided over a District Court suit, Blumenthal v. Trump, involving payments by foreign governments to Trump-owned hotels. Sullivan granted in part and denied in part the Trump team’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing; denied the motion to dismiss for failure to state claim; and certified interlocutory appeal. On February 7, 2020, in a per curiam decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that individual members of Congress lacked standing to bring action against the president. The court, finding in favor of Trump, reversed and remanded Sullivan’s holding that the members of Congress had standing to sue, and instructed him to dismiss the complaint.
I just learned something important from you. I didn’t know General Flynn was under a gag order!!! I thought he was quiet so as not to irritate the judge and damage his case.
The judge is quite biased. Even Flynn’s defense attorneys before Sidney Powell seemed suspiciously incompetent. Interestingly, Eric Holder, Obama’s AG, is a partner in their law firm:
https://www.cov.com/en/professionals/h/eric-holder
Poor Flynn has been surrounded on all sides by swamp monsters. Thank heaven for Sidney Powell.
Yep. He has been gagged from the beginning of this farce.
Why? Mueller and Co. demanded it.
...the fact is that our nation’s law schools are inundated with liberals...
________________
This does help explain why our criminal justice system seems to favor the criminals. They are being released left and right into society.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.