I think Powell was “sent” to Flynn either by Trump or Barr. I don’t think Flynn looked her up himself and asked her to take his case.
I believe there is a much larger strategy going on here and the Flynn case is a pawn being promoted to Queen.
I’m going to laugh myself silly if he returns to the Trump administration in the 2nd term.
I hope you are right! What you say is a distinct possibility. And maybe the factor which gives your thought its greatest believe-ability is the the apparent recklessness of Powell’s strategy. Only an attorney who had inside information on a definitive favorable OUTCOME would put her client at such risk.
The problem is: how was it (theoretically) communicated to Powell that she was going to win using this strategy? That is the part I cannot fathom, and it also assumes that Sullivan is part of the deal.
Powell has indicated that she hopes Barr himself will intervene and order the matter dropped. I do not know how you do that once there is a guilty plea, or whether at this point the judge can be bypassed in doing so.
Powell’s ethical obligation was to advise Flynn on what prospects of success there would be by pursuing her strategy. And on that point she had to tell him the strategy was highly risky, with no certainty of success and a genuine risk of losing. And she was also ethically obligated to tell Flynn that he was risking incarceration by pursuing the strategy, against the almost certain outcome of no incarceration if he did not.
If you are right, this is a spectacular if unconventional win. If you are not, this is bad legal advice.
And it is hard to imagine anyone saying let’s risk going to jail pursuing a speculative, uncertain strategy, as opposed to saying let’s proceed to sentencing and keeping me out of jail.