Carter Page: ‘I was a pawn in the Democrat crusade to bring down Trump’

NY Post ^ | August 22 2020 | Mary Kay Linge

[Ann Archy]

BINGO!! He IS always SMIRKING....I have NO love for SMIRKERS!!

[EVO X]

The fact is that McCain involved himself in some very shady meetings in the ME with terrorists—not directly related to Russia but he was something of a loose cannon. Trump never did things like this and was not by trade a politician

Double ditto that...

[zeestephen]

Re: “Otherwise these are meaningless canards.”

Every person who pleads guilty swears - under penalty of perjury - to exactly the same list of statements. It takes like half an hour - at minimum - to plead guilty.

Every person - including Flynn - also swears that they understand they have the right to go to trial and be judged by a jury of their peers.

Flynn consciously decided his risk of conviction - on more serious charges - was so high, that he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

Flynn has not retracted his guilty plea. The Department of Justice has dropped the original charges.

Now, the Court is left with the (unprecedented?) problem of what to do with a former defendant who pleaded guilty - under penalty of perjury - to a federal crime.

As I pointed out earlier, what happens now to every other guilty plea, past and future?

96% of federal defendants plead guilty to a lesser charge.

If you do not understand the gravity of what has happened here, then the only child in this conversation is you.

[zeestephen]

Re: “Your conception of the law has nothing to do with the way it is really practiced”

Really?

You better explain that to all 12 Judges on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals who convened last week to hear oral arguments concerning the DOJ’s motion to dismiss charges against Flynn.

And the perjury case?

18 months ago, the Judge gave Flynn a second chance to withdraw his guilty plea. Flynn said no, and - under oath - accepted responsibility, a second time, for his false statements to the FBI.

If Flynn walks away from a perjury charge, every person in federal prison on a guilty plea is going to claim prosecutor misconduct and demand a new trial.

THAT is the way law is really practiced.

[zeestephen]

LOL! - 100 years of case law?

Was 1920 the last time the DOJ dropped a criminal charge AFTER the defendant pleaded guilty twice?

Please send me the citation.

No bombast necessary.

[zeestephen]

Thanks for the link. I enjoy reading oral arguments and appellate decisions.

This current issue is procedural, nothing more - does Judge Sullivan have the authority to order a hearing on the Motion to Dismiss, or not?

I do not care, one way or the other.

The primary issue remains - Flynn swore, under penalty of perjury, on two occasions, one year apart, that he knowingly violated federal law.

The Supreme Court has affirmed, on two occasions, that a defendant can be charged with perjury for lying during a guilty plea. A Motion to Dismiss does not automatically vacate a guilty plea.

If Judge Sullivan gets his hearing, perjury, and deferred charges, will be the number one topic.

If Sullivan does not get his hearing, he will independently file perjury charges against Flynn.