tim shea esq

=trump barr DOJ fuckery
tag<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/timothy-shea/"> https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/timothy-shea/</a><div>=</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/jessie-liu/?print=print">https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/jessie-liu/?print=print</a></div><div>
</div><div>jul 25</div><div><div class="entry-header" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-transform: uppercase !important;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="margin: 0.825em 0px 0.5em;">“THE BUCK STOPS AT THE TOP:” IN JANUARY, BILL BARR’S DOJ DECIDED THE CORRECT DECISION WAS TO SEND MIKE FLYNN TO PRISON</h1></div><div class="postmetadata" style="text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="postmetadata" style="text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="post" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="entry-content" style=""><div class="pdfprnt-custom-post-field-before" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />I’d like to make one more point about <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/remarks-attorney-general-william-p-barr-hillsdale-college-constitution-day-event" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Billy Barr’s rant</a> last night. Over and over again, Barr suggested that line prosecutors have been making hyper-aggressive decisions that the Department of Justice cannot answer for and that his involvement simply amounts to ensuring that the decisions DOJ makes are ones he’s willing to take responsibility for.<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;">Indeed, aside from the importance of not fully decoupling law enforcement from the constraining and moderating forces of politics, devolving all authority down to the most junior officials does not even make sense as a matter of basic management.  Name one successful organization where the lowest level employees’ decisions are deemed sacrosanct.  There aren’t any.  Letting the most junior members set the agenda might be a good philosophy for a Montessori preschool, but it’s no way to run a federal agency.  Good leaders at the Justice Department—as at any organization—need to trust and support their subordinates.  But that does not mean blindly deferring to whatever those subordinates want to do.This is what Presidents, the Congress, and the public expect.  When something goes wrong at the Department of Justice, the buck stops at the top.  28 U.S.C. § 509 could not be plainer:  “All functions of other officers of the Department of Justice and all functions of agencies and employees of the Department of Justice are vested in the Attorney General.”And because I am ultimately accountable for every decision the Department makes, I have an obligation to ensure we make the correct ones.  The Attorney General, the Assistant Attorneys General, and the U.S. Attorneys are not figureheads selected for their good looks and profound eloquence.They are supervisors.  Their job is to supervise.   Anything less is an abdication.</blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">To the extent Barr is talking about the Mueller investigation, every single prosecutorial decision was reviewed by Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. For those decisions, then, Barr’s not actually talking about decisions made by line prosecutors. He’s talking about decisions overseen by someone vested, like him, with all the authority of DOJ.For precisely the reason Barr lays out — that DOJ must be able to answer for things DOJ does — it’s highly unusual for DOJ to flip-flop on prosecutorial decisions that past Attorneys General have approved.But with one action in the Mike Flynn prosecution — possibly one he thought of when he invoked probation sentences in one of his last paragraphs — Barr’s interventions into the cases of Donald Trump’s flunkies is far worse than that.<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;">In short, it is important for prosecutors at the Department of Justice to understand that their mission — above all others — is to do justice.  That means following the letter of the law, and the spirit of fairness.  Sometimes that will mean investing months or years in an investigation and then concluding it without criminal charges.  Other times it will mean aggressively prosecuting a person through trial and then recommending a lenient sentence, perhaps even one with no incarceration.</blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">In moving to dismiss Flynn’s prosecution, Barr was overriding a decision he himself had approved of. In January, DOJ <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.150.0_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">called</a> for prison time for Flynn, citing the materiality of his lies and his abuse of trust.<blockquote style="margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">The defendant’s offense is serious, his characteristics and history present aggravating circumstances, and a sentence reflecting those factors is necessary to deter future criminal conduct. Similarly situated defendants have received terms of imprisonment.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Public office is a public trust. The defendant made multiple, material and false statements and omissions, to several DOJ entities, while serving as the President’s National Security Advisor and a senior member of the Presidential Transition Team. As the government represented to the Court at the initial sentencing hearing, the defendant’s offense was serious. See Gov’t Sent’g Mem. at 2; 12/18/2018 Hearing Tr. at 32 (the Court explaining that “[t]his crime is very serious”).<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">The integrity of our criminal justice depends on witnesses telling the truth. That is precisely why providing false statements to the government is a crime. As the Supreme Court has noted:<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding-left: 40px; text-align: left !important;">In this constitutional process of securing a witness’ testimony, perjury simply has no place whatsoever. Perjured testimony is an obvious and flagrant affront to the basic concepts of judicial proceedings. Effective restraints against this type of egregious offense are therefore imperative. The power of subpoena, broad as it is, and the power of contempt for refusing to answer, drastic as that is — and even the solemnity of the oath — cannot insure truthful answers. Hence, Congress has made the giving of false answers a criminal act punishable by severe penalties; in no other way can criminal conduct be flushed into the open where the law can deal with it.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">United States v. Mandujano, 425 U.S. 564, 576 (1975); see also Nix v. Whiteside, 457 U.S. 157, 185 (1986) (“[t]his Court long ago noted: ‘All perjured relevant testimony is at war with justice, since it may produce a judgment not resting on truth.’”) (quoting In re Michael, 326 U.S. 224, 227 (1945)). All persons carry that solemn obligation to tell the truth, especially to the FBI.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">The defendant’s repeated failure to fulfill his obligation to tell the truth merits a sentence within the applicable Guidelines range. As the Court has already found, his false statements to the FBI were material, regardless of the FBI’s knowledge of the substance of any of his conversations with the Russian Ambassador. See Mem. Opinion at 51-52. The topic of sanctions went to the heart of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation. Any effort to undermine those sanctions could have been evidence of links or coordination between the Trump Campaign and Russia. For similar reasons, the defendant’s false statements in his FARA filings were serious. His false statements and omissions deprived the public and the Trump Administration of the opportunity to learn about the Government of Turkey’s covert efforts to influence policy and opinion, including its efforts to remove a person legally residing in the United States.The defendant’s conduct was more than just a series of lies; it was an abuse of trust. During the defendant’s pattern of criminal conduct, he was the National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, the former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General. He held a security clearance with access to the government’s most sensitive information. The only reason the Russian Ambassador contacted the defendant about the sanctions is because the defendant was the incoming National Security Advisor, and thus would soon wield influence and control over the United States’ foreign policy. That is the same reason the defendant’s fledgling company was paid over $500,000 to work on issues for Turkey. The defendant monetized his power and influence over our government, and lied to mask it. When the FBI and DOJ needed information that only the defendant could provide, because of that power and influence, he denied them that information. And so an official tasked with protecting our national security, instead compromised it.</blockquote>This was no decision made by rogue line prosecutors, Brandon Van Grack and Jocelyn Ballantine. In December, Jessie Liu <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.148.0_2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">signed</a> a request for an extension so that the “multiple individuals and entities” that had to approve the new sentencing recommendation could do so.<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;">There are multiple individuals and entities who must review and approve the government’s submission, including any changes from the government’s prior sentencing memorandum and its specific sentencing recommendations.</blockquote>And then again in January, Jessie Liu <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.149.0_2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">got an extension</a> so the “multiple individuals and entities” who had to review the sentencing memo could do so.<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;">As the government represented in its initial motion, there are multiple individuals and entities who must review and approve the government’s submission, including any changes from the government’s prior sentencing memorandum and its specific sentencing recommendations. The government has worked assiduously over the holidays to complete this task, but we find that we require an additional 24 hours to do so.</blockquote>Bill Barr says he is responsible for making the correct decision, and his DOJ reviewed the decision to imprison Mike Flynn at length. Taking him at his word, that means Bill Barr believed, in January, knowing all the details that were “new” to Timothy Shea when he wrote his motion to dismiss, but not new to Michael Horowitz and John Durham, who had already reviewed them, that the correct decision was to send Mike Flynn to prison.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">It’s bad enough that Barr has repeatedly refused to stand by decisions made by others imbued with the authority of the entire DOJ under 28 U.S.C. § 509.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">But Bill Barr won’t even stand by his past decisions.</div></div></div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/the-legal-posture-of-the-flynn-case-emmet-sullivan-has-up-to-six-pending-decisions-not-one/">https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/the-legal-posture-of-the-flynn-case-emmet-sullivan-has-up-to-six-pending-decisions-not-one/</a></div><div>
</div><div>t<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/13/the-legal-posture-of-the-flynn-case-emmet-sullivan-has-up-to-six-pending-decisions-not-one/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: The Legal Posture of the Flynn Case: Emmet Sullivan Has Up to Six Pending Decisions, Not One" data-wpel-link="internal" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: inherit; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">HE LEGAL POSTURE OF THE FLYNN CASE: EMMET SULLIVAN HAS UP TO SIX PENDING DECISIONS, NOT ONE</a></div><div>
</div><header class="entry-content-header" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="post-meta-infos" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; top: -8px; display: block;"><time class="date-container minor-meta updated" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">May 13, 2020</time><span class="text-sep text-sep-date" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">/<span class="blog-categories minor-meta" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">in <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2016-presidential-election/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">2016 Presidential Election</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/emptywheel/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">emptywheel</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/mueller-probe/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Mueller Probe</a> <span class="text-sep text-sep-cat" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">/<span class="blog-author minor-meta" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">by <span class="entry-author-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="vcard author" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="fn" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/author/emptywheel/" title="Posts by emptywheel" rel="author" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">emptywheel</a></header><div class="entry-content" itemprop="text" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Partly as a public service (the vast majority of people who are commenting on DOJ’s actions seem to be unfamiliar with the docket) and partly to set up a post I will do attempting to explain why Billy Barr did something as aggressive as he did last week, I wanted to lay out where all the moving pieces in Mike Flynn’s case stand.<h3 style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">FLYNN BLOWS UP A PROBATION SENTENCING WITH MIXED CLAIMS ABOUT HIS PROSECUTION</h3><p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Prosecutors first started moving towards sentencing Flynn in June 2018; it’s clear the investigation was still ongoing but they <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.36.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">asked</a> to have Flynn’s presentencing report filed so they could move quickly after that. We now know that this was days after Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.150.2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">testified to the grand jury</a> in the Turkish influence peddling case. There were reports Flynn was anxious to be sentenced so he could start earning a living again and in this time period, he registered to start influence peddling again, before his lawyers got him to claim that was just a mistake. On September 17, 2018, prosecutors <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.42.0_5.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">said</a> they were ready to move towards sentencing and asked for a date starting in November, after the midterms. The hearing ultimately got scheduled for December 18, 2018, after Jeff Sessions had been fired and Trump had <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/07/politics/william-barr-attorney-general-nomination/index.html" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">announced</a> he would nominate Bill Barr to be Attorney General (he didn’t actually send the nomination to the Senate until January 3, 2019, for reasons that likely have to do with Matt Whitaker’s Vacancy Reform Act status).<p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">At that point, prosecutors <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.46.0_2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">recommended</a> a sentence within guidelines and a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.47.0_10.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">downward departure</a>, which is consistent with probation. Had Flynn left well enough alone, he would have gotten a year of probation and he’d be free and clear of the justice system by now.<p style="font-weight: 400; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He didn’t leave well enough alone. He <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/17/mike-flynn-steps-in-it-in-a-bid-to-feed-the-frothy-right-he-leads-to-damning-new-details-showing-he-lied-to-protect-trump/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">got cute</a>, claiming to accept guilt but at the same time floating the first of his complaints about being perjury trapped by mean old FBI agents. In response, not only did Judge Emmet Sullivan release the documents that revealed Flynn lies were worse than known, but he <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/121818am-USA-v-Michael-Flynn-Sentencing.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">put Flynn under oath</a>, both to reallocute his guilty plea, but also to swear that he didn’t think the circumstances of his interview made him any less guilty. After Sullivan made it clear that if he sentenced Flynn that day, he’d give him prison time, Flynn decided to wait until he was done cooperating after testifying at his partner Bijan Kian’s trial.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On February 14, 2019, the day Billy Barr was confirmed, Flynn <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/17/politics/michael-flynn-mueller-matt-gaetz/index.html" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">sent a tweet</a> suggesting “the eagle had landed” to Matt Gaetz, whose assaults on the Mueller investigation he had <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/17/flynn-mueller-critic-congress-cooperation-1331715" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">previously cheered in 2018</a>.<p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">After Barr was confirmed, Mueller quickly moved to write up his report, which was completed on March 22 and released on April 19, 2019. Mueller did not close his office, however, until May 29, when he gave a <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/05/29/muellers-presser/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">hasty press conference</a> even as the final outstanding piece of evidence — Roger Stone aide, Andrew Miller’s testimony — came in.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">When Mueller <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-of-robert-s-mueller-iiis-testimony-before-the-house-intelligence-committee/2019/07/24/f424acf0-ad97-11e9-a0c9-6d2d7818f3da_story.html" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">testified before Congress</a> two months later on July 24, the most newsworthy thing he said was that FBI was still investigating the counterintelligence impact of Mike Flynn’s lies.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">[Congressman Raja] KRISHNAMOORTHI: For example, you successfully charged former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn of lying to federal agents about this conversations with Russian officials, correct?<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">MUELLER: Correct.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">KRISHNAMOORTHI: Since it was outside the purview of your investigation your report did not address how Flynn’s false statements could pose a national security risk because the Russians knew the falsity of those statements, right?<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">MUELLER: I cannot get in to that, mainly because there are many elements of the FBI that are looking at different aspects of that issue.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">KRISHNAMOORTHI: Currently?<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">MUELLER: Currently.</blockquote><h3 style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">FLYNN REPLACES COVINGTON FOR POWELL AND BLOWS UP THE BIJAN KIAN TRIAL</h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Exactly a week later, Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.87.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">replaced</a> his competent attorney, Rob Kelner, with Fox News firebreather, Sidney Powell, who <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.122.2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">moved immediately</a> to collaborate with Bill Barr to undermine his prosecution.<p style="font-weight: 400; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In late June, Flynn started reneging on the testimony he provided in the Kian trial. As a result, the government <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.400989/gov.uscourts.vaed.400989.262.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">tried to change</a> their plan for the prosecution, attempting to admit Flynn’s prior testimony as a co-conspriator of unregistered foreign agents (who were charged under 18 USC 951, not just as lobbyists). Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.400989/gov.uscourts.vaed.400989.270.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">intervened to fight that</a> (not least, because it would completely doom any effort to avoid prison), <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/07/10/with-latest-stunt-mike-flynn-may-save-bijan-kian-from-prison-time-but-double-his-own/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">blaming</a> Kelner for making him submit a false FARA declaration even while submitting evidence actually showing that Flynn misled Kelner during the filing process. The move predictably helped Kian, as those events were key in Judge Anthony Trenga’s decision to throw out his conviction (which is currently being appealed, but which I expect DOJ to try to blow up in a further attempt to protect Flynn), but it <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/07/10/with-latest-stunt-mike-flynn-may-save-bijan-kian-from-prison-time-but-double-his-own/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">also started a series of claims</a> from Flynn that directly conflicted with his past sworn statements.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Sullivan, noting what was happening over in EDVA, asked the sides to weigh in, which is how Flynn’s team first started <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.98.0_2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">making claims</a> in Sullivan’s court that the government, not Flynn, had reneged, all while submitting evidence showing the contrary.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Which is to say, even before Powell took a single action in the Flynn case, Flynn had created further exposure for himself.<h3 style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">AS PART OF A BRADY MOTION, FLYNN MOVES TO DISMISS THE PROSECUTION</h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The first legal step Sidney Powell took was to submit a motion to compel Brady material. The <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.109.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">first filing</a>, on August 30, made no specific request (though did demand more classified information on behalf of Flynn, who of course had confessed to secretly working for a foreign government during the campaign). Powell also <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.107.0_7.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">asked for</a> more time. Days after submitting that, however, Powell and her colleagues demanded security clearances. On September 11, a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.111.0_6.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">more detailed motion</a> was unsealed. That motion included a long list of demands, many based on wild conspiracy theories; the list largely tracked the one Powell had sent to Barr three months earlier, though she generally moderated her language and added a number of requests pertaining to the Turkish investigation that weren’t included in her Barr letter.<p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Many of these items are among those the government relied on in its motion to dismiss last week, proving the documents were in no way “new.”<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Almost two weeks later, Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.116.0_7.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">cleaned up</a> some problems in the original request.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On October 1, prosecutors provided a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.123.0_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">timeline</a> showing they had already produced everything they believed Flynn was entitled to. The same day, they <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.122.0_3.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">responded</a> to the Brady motion with a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.122.1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">detailed response to each of Flynn’s demands</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.122.2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">two</a> <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.122.3.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">exhibits</a> showing that this was part of a larger effort to undermine the Mueller investigation (which <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/05/11/mike-flynn-collaborator-barbara-ledeens-past-role-in-producing-new-evidence/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">I addressed here</a>).<p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On October 15, Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.124.0_2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">demanded</a> evidence from Joseph Mifsud’s phone — which further established Sidney Powell didn’t care about whether her demands related to her client, but also that she had an open channel of communication with Bill Barr about his Durham investigation.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In Powell’s <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.129.2_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">reply</a> to the government, she included a new demand: that Judge Sullivan dismiss the case for misconduct based on precisely the claims made by DOJ last week.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">As new counsel has made clear from her first appearance, Mr. Flynn will ask this Court to dismiss the entire prosecution based on the outrageous and un-American conduct of law enforcement officials and the subsequent failure of the prosecution to disclose this evidence— which it had in its possession all along—either in a timely fashion or at all.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">[snip]<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The FBI had no factual or legal basis for a criminal investigation, nor did they have a valid basis for a counter-intelligence investigation against an American citizen, and they all knew it. 11 Exs. 5, 6. The evidence the defense requests will eviscerate any factual basis for the plea and reveal conduct so outrageous—if there is not enough already—to mandate dismissal of this prosecution for egregious government misconduct.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">[snip]<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In its relentless pursuit of Mr. Flynn, the government became the architect of an injustice so egregious it is “repugnant to the American criminal system.” Russell, 411 U.S. at 428 (citations omitted). For these reasons and those in our original Motion and Brief in Support, this Court should compel the government to produce the evidence the defense requests in its full, unredacted form. Given the clear and convincing evidence herein, this Court should issue an order to show cause why the prosecutors should not be held in contempt; and should dismiss the entire prosecution for outrageous government misconduct.</blockquote><p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The government noted Powell’s new arguments and <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.131.0_4.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">got permission</a> to submit a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.132.0_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">surreply</a>, in which they pointed out that Flynn was already in possession of the information he was using to argue for dismissal when he pled guilty the second time.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Although the defendant now complains about the pace of that discovery, before December 18, 2018, the defendant was in possession of all of the information on which he now bases his argument that the case should be dismissed due to government misconduct. See Reply at 1-2, 16, 26; Notice of Discovery Correspondence, United States v. Flynn, 17-cr-232 (D.D.C. Oct. 1, 2019) (Doc. 123). Thereafter, on December 18, 2018, the defendant and his counsel affirmed for this Court that they had no concerns that potential Brady material or other relevant material had not been provided to the defendant. See Hearing Transcript at 8-10, United States v. Flynn, No. 17-cr-232 (D.D.C. Dec. 18, 2018) (“12/18/2018 Hearing Tr.”). The defendant further affirmed, under oath, that he wished to proceed to sentencing because he was guilty of making false statements to the FBI. See id. at 16.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">[snip]<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Nor did law enforcement officials engage in “outrageous” conduct during the criminal investigation and prosecution of the defendant. On January 24, 2017, when the defendant lied in his interview, the FBI was engaged in a legitimate and significant investigation into whether individuals associated with the campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump were coordinating with the Russian government in its activities to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The defendant was not “ambushed” at the interview, and the interviewing agents certainly did not engage in “outrageous” conduct that undermines the fact that he lied. Reply at 1, 7. The documents produced by the government in discovery show that the FBI asked the defendant for permission to conduct the interview, informed the defendant that the questions would concern his “contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the United States,” interviewed the defendant in his own office, and afforded him multiple opportunities to correct his false statements by revisiting key questions. See, e.g., Memorandum of Andrew McCabe dated January 24, 2017 (Doc. 56-1) (“McCabe Memo”); Strzok 302.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">[snip]<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">For all of the above reasons, it is no surprise that with the same set of facts, the defendant and his prior counsel previously represented to this Court that the circumstances of the interview had no impact on his guilt, or guilty plea. On December 18, 2018, when the Court asked the defendant if he wished to “challenge the circumstances on which you were interviewed by the FBI,” he responded, under oath, “No, Your Honor.” 12/18/2018 Hearing Tr. at 8.10 The Court then asked the defendant if he understood that “by maintaining your guilty plea and continuing with sentencing, you will give up your right forever to challenge the circumstances under which you were interviewed,” to which the defendant answered, “Yes, Your Honor.” Id. And when the Court queried whether the defendant wanted an opportunity to withdraw his plea because one of the interviewing agents had been investigated for misconduct, the defendant stated “I do not, Your Honor.” Id. at 9. His counsel likewise represented to the Court that their client was not “entrapped by the FBI,” and that they did not contend “any misconduct by a member of the FBI raises any degree of doubt that Mr. Flynn intentionally lied to the FBI.” Id. at 11-12.</blockquote><p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In a sur-surreply, Powell <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.133.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">tried to back off</a> having demanded that Sullivan dismiss the case, saying that her past arguments and the government’s response aren’t her real motion to dismiss.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In conclusion, yes, the government engaged in conduct so shocking to the conscience and so inimical to our system of justice that it requires the dismissal of the charges for outrageous government conduct. See United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 428 (1973). However, as fully briefed in our Motion to Compel and Reply, at this time, Mr. Flynn only requests an order compelling the government to produce the additional Brady evidence he has requested—in full and unredacted form—and an order to show cause why the government should not be held in contempt. At the appropriate time, Mr. Flynn will file a separate motion asking that the Court dismiss the prosecution for egregious government misconduct and in the interest of justice. Mr. Flynn is entitled to discovery of the materials he has requested in these motions and briefs that will help him support such a motion.</blockquote><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In Emmet Sullivan’s <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.144.0_3.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">meticulous 92-page order</a> issued in December denying Flynn’s Brady request, however, he addressed the request for dismissal, specifically distinguishing this case from that of Ted Stevens.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Flynn’s requested relief is dismissal of this case. See Def.’s Reply, ECF No. 133 at 36; see also Def.’s Sur-Surreply, ECF No. 135 at 17. He seeks dismissal of the charges against him and the entire prosecution for government misconduct. E.g., Def.’s Reply, ECF No. 133 at 7, 23 n.15, 36; Def.’s SurSurreply, ECF No. 135 at 17. The government disagrees. See Gov’t’s Surreply, ECF No. 132 at 12-15. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">This case is not United States v. Theodore F. Stevens, Criminal Action No. 08–231(EGS), the case that Mr. Flynn relies on throughout his briefing. In that case, the Court granted the government’s motion to dismiss, and the government admitted that it had committed Brady violations and made misrepresentations to the Court. In re Special Proceedings, 825 F. Supp. 2d 203, 204 (D.D.C. 2011) (Sullivan, J.). Even if Mr. Flynn established a Brady violation in this case, dismissal would be unwarranted because “[t]he remedy for a Brady violation is retrial, not dismissal.” United States v. Borda, 941 F. Supp. 2d 16, 19 n.1 (D.D.C. 2013) (citing Pettiford, 627 F.3d at 1228). “[D]ismissal is appropriate only as a last resort, where no other remedy would cure prejudice against a defendant.” Pasha, 797 F.3d at 1139. [my emphasis]</blockquote><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">As the government noted when they responded to Flynn’s request for dismissal, he already had all the evidence on which he premised that demand when he pled guilty a second time in December 2018.<h3 style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">IN A SENTENCING MEMO, THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS FOR FLYNN’S FAILED COOPERATION AND REFUSAL TO ADMIT GUILT</h3><p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In the wake of Sullivan’s order, the parties moved towards sentencing in January. The government got two continuances before submitting their revised motion, <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.148.0_2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">one in December</a> and <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.149.0_2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">another in January</a>, to get all required approvals for their sentencing memo. That means prosecutors on the case went to great lengths to approve their <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.150.0_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">recommendation</a> for prison time.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The factors enunciated in Section 3553(a) all favor the imposition of a sentence within the Guidelines range. The defendant’s offense is serious, his characteristics and history present aggravating circumstances, and a sentence reflecting those factors is necessary to deter future criminal conduct. Similarly situated defendants have received terms of imprisonment.</blockquote><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ll return to that memo, but the key point is that Judge Sullivan specifically gave Bill Barr’s DOJ time to ensure that the chain of command approved their supplemental sentencing memo.<p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Before Flynn responded to that revised recommendation, they <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.151.0_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">asked for a continuance</a> to allow them to withdraw Flynn’s guilty plea, specifically citing prosecutors’ recommendation for prison time.<p style="font-weight: 400; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Because Flynn submitted his <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.156.0_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">supplemental sentencing memo</a> after beginning the process to withdraw his guilty plea, they were stuck arguing in it both that Flynn should get credit for admitting guilty but also arguing that he was not guilty.<p style="font-weight: 400; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.163.0_6.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">government reply</a>, submitted as Barr started the process to replace Jessie Liu, is the one that alerted everyone to the shenanigans that Barr was up to. Whereas the initial supplemental motion — which had been delayed twice to get approval — recommended prison time, this one reverted back to supporting probation, the position the government had adopted before Flynn had reneged on both his cooperation and his guilty.<h3 style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">FLYNN BLAMES HIS GUILTY PLEAS ON HIS COVINGTON LAWYERS</h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">As noted, Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.151.0_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">cited</a> the recommendation for prison time in asking to withdraw his guilty plea(s). Flynn based his request to withdraw his guilty plea on a claim that his very competent Covington lawyers were both conflicted and incompetent. He then submitted what was originally called a supplement — which made no new arguments — which they subsequently <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.154.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">corrected</a> to note,<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">1 This is not Mr. Flynn’s “Supplemental Motion to Withdraw for Alternative Additional Reasons” currently due to be filed on January 22, 2020, for which we have requested two additional days to complete and file.</blockquote><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In response to a second request for more time on its filings, Judge Sullivan issued an order that reflects where he’ll likely go now: he raised the prospect of an evidentiary hearing to determine whether there is good cause to set aside his guilty plea.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Flynn’s supplemental motion and the government’s response shall address the following: (1) the standard in this Circuit for a defendant seeking to withdraw a guilty plea before sentencing; and (2) the need for an evidentiary hearing where the parties would present all testimony and evidence concerning the issue of whether Mr. Flynn can show that there is good cause to set aside his guilty pleas, see United States v. Cray, 47 F.3d 1203, 1206 (D.C. Cir. 1995), including testimony from Mr. Flynn and other witnesses under oath, subject to cross-examination, to show any “fair and just reason” for this Court to grant his motion to withdraw, Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(d).</blockquote><p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">From that moment forward, it became clear that Sullivan would put Flynn back under oath.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On February 9, prosecutors made things still worse, by <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.164.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">asking</a> Sullivan to waive Covington’s attorney-client privilege with respect to Flynn so they could assist prosecutors in rebutting his claims that they were incompetent. From that point forward, it became clear that not only Flynn, but his very credible former lawyers, would be testifying about the prosecution.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On January 29, just two days before Bill Barr would replace Jessie Liu with his flunky and around the same time he ordered Jeffrey Jensen to review the Flynn prosecution, Flynn submitted what he billed as his real <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.160.2_2.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">supplemental motion to withdraw</a>, doubling down on the claim that his former lawyers were responsible for his guilty pleas, he wasn’t.<p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">As I <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/01/31/mike-flynn-seizes-the-rope-to-hang-himself-with-pick-your-perjury/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">noted at the time</a>, the motions in conjunction created new risks for Flynn: in particular, his motion to withdraw included a sworn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.160.23.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">declaration</a> that conflicted with three past sworn statements from him:<ul style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px 7px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style-position: outside; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">December 1, 2017: Mike Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.16.0_1.pdf" rel="external noopener noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">pled guilty</a> before Judge Rudolph Contreras to <a href="https://www.justice.gov/file/1015026/download" rel="external noopener noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">lying in a January 24, 2017 FBI interview</a>. In his plea allocution, Flynn admitted:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 5px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: outside disc;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He lied about several conversations with Sergey Kislyak about sanctions</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He lied about several conversations with Kislyak about an attempt to undermine an Obama effort at the UN</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He lied about whether his company knew that it was working for the government of Turkey and about whether senior officials from Turkey were overseeing that contract</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He was satisfied with the services his attorneys had provided</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">No other threats or promises were made to him except what was in the plea agreement</li></ul></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">December 18, 2018: Mike Flynn <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/121818am-USA-v-Michael-Flynn-Sentencing.pdf" rel="external noopener noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">reallocuted his guilty plea</a> before Judge Emmet Sullivan to lying in a January 24, 2017 FBI interview. In his plea allocution, Flynn admitted:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 5px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: outside disc;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He lied about several conversations with Sergey Kislyak about sanctions</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He lied about several conversations with Kislyak about an attempt to undermine an Obama effort at the UN</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He lied about whether his company knew that it was working for the government of Turkey and about whether senior officials from Turkey were overseeing that contract</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He was satisfied with the services his attorneys had provided</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He did not want a Curcio counsel appointed to give him a second opinion on pleading guilty</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He did not want to challenge the circumstances of his January 24, 2017 interview and understood by pleading guilty he was giving up his right to do so permanently</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">He did not want to withdraw his plea having learned that Peter Strzok and others were investigated for misconduct</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">During his interview with the FBI, he was aware that lying to the FBI was a federal crime</li></ul></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">June 26, 2018: Mike Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.150.2.pdf" rel="external noopener noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">testified to an EDVA grand jury</a>, among other things, that “from the beginning,” his 2016 consulting project “was always on behalf of elements within the Turkish government,” he and Bijan Kian would “always talk about Gulen as sort of a sharp point” in relations between Turkey and the US as part of the project (though there was some discussion about business climate), and he and his partner “didn’t have any conversations about” a November 8, 2016 op-ed published under his name until “Bijan [] sent me a draft of it a couple of days prior, maybe about a week prior.” The statements conflict with a FARA filing submitted under Flynn’s name.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">January 29, 2020: Mike Flynn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.160.23.pdf" rel="external noopener noreferrer" data-wpel-link="external" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">declared, under oath</a> that, “in truth, I never lied.” Flynn claims he forgot about the substance of his conversations with the Russian Ambassador, rather than lied about them.</li></ul><p style="font-weight: 400; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">To make things worse, as often happens with exhibits Sidney Powell introduces, the actual record undermined claims Flynn made. For example, Flynn included a document that showed Covington gave him more warnings about conflict than he admitted to in his declaration, thereby making it clear his sworn declaration didn’t match the record accompanying it.<h3 style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">FLYNN REPEATS HIS CLAIM HE WAS RAILROADED</h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">That same day Flynn submitted his most substantive motion to withdraw his guilty plea, January 29, he also submitted a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.162.0_1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">motion to dismiss</a> his prosecution. It was basically a repeat of the request made months earlier as part of the Brady request, pointing to irregularities in the Carter Page FISA application as the primary justification to make the motion anew.<p style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On February 12, prosecutors <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.169.0_7.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">responded</a> to that motion pointing out there was nothing new here. Flynn’s response was repetitive and included a misleading timeline full of claims that contradict claims they’ve made elsewhere. The motion ignored that Flynn waived these complaints when he pled guilty the second time.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The government repeatedly claims that Mr. Flynn waived his right to constitutional protections when he pled guilty. ECF No. 169 at n.3. But, Mr. Flynn’s plea cannot stand, and the government cannot use it as both a shield for its misconduct and a sword to sentence Mr. Flynn. His plea was infected with constitutional error which rendered it neither knowing nor voluntary and in violation of Mr. Flynn’s Sixth Amendment rights. See ECF No. 162-2. As Mr. Flynn argued in his Motion to Withdraw Plea, ECF No. 151, even if it were a validly contracted plea, the government breached the contract the moment Mr. Van Grack filed the government’s supplemental sentencing memo which withdrew its motion for downward departure and its recommendation of probation. See ECF No. 150 at 3 (“In addition to asking the Court to credit the defendant with providing substantial assistance, the government recommended that the defendant receive credit for accepting responsibility. . . . [T]he government now withdraws both requests.”).</blockquote><h3 style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">AS PROSECUTORS PREPARE THEIR COVINGTON ARGUMENT, BILL BARR PREPARED HIS “NEW” INFORMATION</h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">As noted, on February 9, prosecutors took steps to be able to prove that Covington, in fact, gave Flynn exceptionally good advice. They asked for a series of delays while they did that. According to the schedule set by Judge Sullivan, prosecutors would have proposed a briefing schedule to lay all that out last Friday, possibly in a motion including some of the details from the 600 pages of evidence obtained from Covington that (the record already shows) would substantiate that Flynn gave them incorrect information for his FARA filing and repeatedly brushed off warnings about conflict.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">During the delay, Covington did find 6,000 new records <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.191.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">on top of the 600,000 documents</a> they had already provided. Given the Bates numbers of documents filed last week, there’s no reason to believe those exhibits were included in these newly discovered documents.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">As that was happening, prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.180.1.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">handed over</a>, drip-by-drip, the documents that Jeffrey Jensen “analyzed.”<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Beginning in January 2020, at the direction of Attorney General William P. Barr, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri (“USA EDMO”) has been conducting a review of the Michael T. Flynn investigation. The review by USA EDMO has involved the analysis of reports related to the investigation along with communications and notes by Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) personnel associated with the investigation.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The enclosed documents were obtained and analyzed by USA EDMO in March and April 2020 and are provided to you as a result of this ongoing review; additional documents may be forthcoming. These materials are covered by the Protective Order entered by the Court on February 21, 2018.</blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">None of this discovery correspondence said the documents were new to prosecutors, only that Jensen had reviewed them. They were, nevertheless, the documents that Timothy Shea claimed were “new” as his basis for flip-flopping on DOJ’s position on the case.<h3 style="font-weight: 400; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5em 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase;">EMMET SULLIVAN HAS SIX DECISIONS TO MAKE, NOT JUST ONE</h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Many, perhaps most, people who’ve commented in the last week have noted that Emmet Sullivan has the prerogative whether to accept DOJ’s motion or not. It’s true he has that authority. But he actually has up to six different decisions pending, as follows:<ol style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Whether to accept or reject DOJ’s <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.198.0_6.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">motion to dismiss</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">If Sullivan accepts DOJ’s motion to dismiss, whether he does so with or without prejudice</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Whether to accept or reject Flynn’s <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592/gov.uscourts.dcd.191592.199.0_5.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">motion</a> to withdraw his pending withdraw of guilty plea, motion to dismiss, and waiver of privilege for Covington (to which DOJ has consented)</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Whether to hold an evidentiary hearing or ask for briefing on Flynn’s motion to withdraw</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Whether to accept or reject Flynn’s motion to dismiss his prosecution</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 3px 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Whether and if so how to sentence Flynn based on fully briefed sentencing memoranda</li></ol><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Sullivan would not get to most of these without, first, deciding what to do about DOJ’s motion to dismiss. And if he rejected DOJ’s motion to dismiss, he would obviously reject Flynn’s motion to dismiss, just like he already rejected that argument. Though if Sullivan does reject DOJ’s motion to dismiss, sentencing is fully briefed and he could move immediately to sentencing.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Moreover, Flynn’s multiple conflicting sworn statements are before this court whether or not Sullivan rejects DOJ’s motion to dismiss. And he could reach that decision — or at least order briefing on the Covington evidence Flynn clearly wants to keep hidden — without (or before) weighing in on DOJ’s motion to dismiss.<p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Which is likely one of the reasons Sullivan is taking his time before he issues the next scheduling order.<p style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Update: I should have put <a href="https://www.kmov.com/fbi-director-wray-comes-under-scrutiny-after-justice-department-drops-flynns-case/article_989eb308-9bc1-5778-9dee-de5022f5e821.html" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">this quote</a> on behalf of Chris Wray in several posts before this one. But basically, the FBI has already put it into the public record that the stuff DOJ claimed was “new” last week had already been reviewed by DOJ IG and John Durham’s inquiry.<blockquote style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">With regard to certain documents in the Michael Flynn matter from the 2016-2017 time period that are now the subject of reporting by the press, the FBI previously produced those materials to the Inspector General and U.S. Attorney Durham,” the FBI said.</blockquote><div class="pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-bottom-left" style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div></div><footer class="entry-footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240);"><span class="blog-tags minor-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Tags:<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/bill-barr/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Bill Barr</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/emmet-sullivan/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Emmet Sullivan</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/jeffrey-jensen/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Jeffrey Jensen</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/jocelyn-ballantine/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Jocelyn Ballantine</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/mike-flynn/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Mike Flynn</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/rob-kelner/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Rob Kelner</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/sidney-powell/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Sidney Powell</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/timothy-shea/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Timothy Shea</a><div class="av-share-box" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px -50px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 858.912px; clear: both; float: left;"><h5 class="av-share-link-description av-no-toc " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline;">=</h5></div></footer>=andrew mcc BS<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/the-roger-stone-sentencing-fiasco/">https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/the-roger-stone-sentencing-fiasco/</a>no lnxno lnxThe Roger Stone Sentencing FiascoBy ANDREW C. MCCARTHYFebruary 12, 2020 Some Justice Department personnel handled it questionably, but Trump’s reaction was worse.The first thing to grasp about the Roger Stone sentencing fiasco is that Stone, even accepting the worst plausible gloss on his crimes, is a 67-year-old nonviolent first offender. If the criminal-justice “reform” fad were authentic, and not a stratagem of social-justice warriors who have taken Washington’s surfeit of useful idiots for a ride, then we could all agree that the original seven-to-nine-year sentence advocated by prosecutors was too draconian — even if it was, as we shall see, a faithful application of the federal sentencing guidelines as written.ANDREW C. MCCARTHYNRPLUSBut no. Like criminal-justice “reform,” the Stone prosecution is more politics than law enforcement. It was the Mueller probe’s last gasp at pretending there might be something to the Russia-collusion narrative – notwithstanding that, when the “gee, it sure feels like there could be some collusion here” indictment was filed, over a year and a half after special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed, it had long been manifest that there was no Trump–Russia conspiracy.It reads like a longer, more woke, and even more socialist version of Venezuela’s.So, the Left has a quandary here: Do they hate Trump more than they love sentencing “reform”? We could have predicted the decision to go with hating Trump, and thus fomenting outrage over DOJ’s retraction of its original sentencing recommendation of about nine years’ imprisonment, now slashed to a far more reasonable range of four years or less. To be fair, though, Trump critics could not have been expected to resist the combination of DOJ missteps and Trump Twitter taunts that mark Stone’s sentencing, the combination that has managed to turn Mueller’s maulers into media martyrs.Some background: In a ridiculously overblown, overcharged prosecution, Mueller slammed the ineffable Stone with seven felony counts of obstructing Congress’s Russia investigation. One of these involved tampering with a witness, left-wing radio host Randy Credico (through whom Stone sought a communications channel with WikiLeaks honcho Julian Assange).At a certain point, Credico let it be known that he intended to cooperate with investigators. A ballistic Stone, when not uttering lunatic references to Watergate and Frank Pentangeli (the Mafioso character goaded into suicide when a plot to take out the Don fails in Godfather II), warned the “stoolie” “rat” Credico to “prepare to die” and vowed to steal his pet dog. Even in context, these seem to be puerile ravings, not real threats. (Stone added that his lawyers were anxious to “rip [Credico] to shreds,” so any murder and dognapping was apparently going to await cross-examination.) And though Stone is patently guilty of witness tampering, Credico himself told the court that he did not take Stone’s threats seriously.Stone being the sort of Einstein who commits his obstructions in writing (the Credico contacts were mostly text messages), the jury convicted him in nothing flat. That meant DOJ would give the court its take on how the sentencing guidelines applied to the case, as it does with every convicted defendant.The guidelines tend to be harsh if they are faithfully interpreted, but they are not binding on judges. Since the role of prosecutors is to seek justice, which often is not the maximum sentence, the best practice is for DOJ to provide a neutral explanation of how the guidelines should be calculated — the applicable enhancements and reductions. If the resulting sentencing range seems out of proportion with the offense, DOJ may suggest adjustments that raise or lower the suggested range without doing damage to the guidelines framework and the overarching purposes served by sentencing. Arguments for leniency are always made by defense counsel, and often by the U.S. Probation Department, which also prepares a sentencing recommendation for the court.[More fromANDREW C. MCCARTHYLee Zeldin’s Alleged Attacker Arrested and Detained on Federal Assault ChargesTrump’s Wasn’t the Only Dereliction on Display During the January 6 HearingsSteve Bannon Convicted, of Course: What to Watch for Next]In Stone’s case, the guidelines worked a severe result. In tampering cases, a guidelines enhancement calls for a drastic increase in the sentence if the defendant threatened the witness with physical injury. This drove Stone’s “offense level” from 21 to 29 on the guidelines grid, so even though he is a first offender (offense history “Category I” in guidelines-speak), his recommended sentence zoomed to 90 to 108 months — instead of 37 to 46 months, as it would have been at offense level 21 (i.e., without the threats).With Mueller’s shop closed down, the Stone prosecution was run out of the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia. But it was still being overseen by two Mueller staffers, Aaron S. J. Zelinsky (on loan from the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, where he had worked for Rod Rosenstein, who, as Trump’s deputy attorney general, later appointed Mueller), and Adam C. Jed (an appellate lawyer from the Obama Justice Department who first came to public attention in 2013, arguing that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional). Also assigned to the case were Jonathan Kravis, a former associate White House counsel to Obama, and Michael Mirando, an experienced assistant U.S. attorney in the D.C. office.This team of prosecutors filed a sentencing memorandum on Monday, laying out the guidelines and advising Judge Amy Berman Jackson that they called for a prison sentence of about seven to nine years (i.e., the offense-level guidelines range of 90 to 108 months). Like the indictment itself, the memo is gross overkill.As the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross notes, the prosecutors tied Stone to “foreign election interference,” breathlessly framed as the “most deadly adversary of republican government,” even though he was never charged with any such crime — underscoring yet again that the deadliest adversary of republican government is actually domestic — viz., the politicized use of executive police powers. Far from offering any theory in mitigation of the 90-to-108-months range, the prosecutors pooh-poohed Credico’s perception that Stone’s threats were not serious, factitiously insisting that the guidelines enhancement is triggered by the threat, not whether the target is actually intimidated. Plus, prosecutors maintained, Stone’s crimes were exacerbated by his flouting of Judge Berman Jackson’s gag orders during the prosecution.All that said, the prosecutors’ submission was an accurate (if extreme and unyielding) rendition of federal sentencing law. The enhancement that inflates Stone’s sentencing range does literally apply — even if he is not the kind of violent criminal that the guidelines commissioners had in mind when they wrote it. Prosecutors are not required to argue for clemency, though they should do so when the circumstances call for it. The Justice Department’s default position in criminal cases is that the guidelines should be applied as written, and that it is up to the court to decide whether to follow them.While Stone awaited sentence, the prosecutors were supervised, at least nominally, by Jessie Liu, the U.S. attorney for D.C. I say “nominally” because the Trump Justice Department has always been leery about being seen as interfering in Mueller-based prosecutions. Moreover, the D.C. office was in transition while court submissions pertaining to Stone’s sentencing were being prepared.In December 2019, President Trump announced his nomination of Liu to become the Treasury Department’s undersecretary overseeing financial sanctions on terrorists. Liu continued running the U.S. attorney’s office, albeit with one foot out the door, until the end of January. With her Treasury confirmation hearing scheduled for February 13 (i.e., tomorrow), Attorney General Bill Barr appointed one of his top advisers, Timothy Shea (a well-regarded longtime prosecutor, litigator, and Capitol Hill staffer), to become acting U.S. attorney for D.C. on January 30. That was eleven days before the Stone team filed its sentencing submission.How much participation Shea had in the recommendation is unclear. The New York Times reports that both he and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen opined that the seven-to-nine-year sentencing recommendation was too severe. Yet, it does not appear that they put their foot down and instructed the Stone prosecutors to ameliorate it before the government’s submission was filed on Monday.As is his wont, the president went bonkers on Twitter upon learning of the recommendation, calling it “horrible and very unfair” and a major “miscarriage of justice” because “the real crimes are on the other side” — i.e., the Russia-probe investigators [AKA DURHAM FAIL]— yet “nothing happens to them.” While the Justice Department was obviously aware of the president’s tweet, as well as press reporting about the harshness of the prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation, the DOJ and the White House have had no communications about the case, according to both the president and a spokeswoman for the attorney general.Nevertheless, the DOJ made it known that the sentencing memo would be rescinded and a new one filed. That announcement prompted the recusals of all four prosecutors, some of whom are quitting the DOJ entirely and some apparently just stepping aside from the Stone case.Late Tuesday, the DOJ filed a revised sentencing memo, which does not recommend a specific sentence but strongly suggests that a term calculated without the eight-point enhancement — i.e., between 37 and 46 months’ imprisonment — would be just. The new memo concedes that the prosecutors’ calculation in the original memo was “arguably” correct, but contends that it would be unreasonable under the circumstances. On that score, the memo relies on (a) Credico’s dismissal of the threat (though it acknowledges that this is not dispositive); (b) the fact that a sentence driven by the guidelines enhancement would be wildly out of proportion with prison terms imposed in cases similar to Stone’s; (c) Stone’s being a first-offender with no organized-crime or gang connections and thus not typical of the offenders the enhancement is meant to cover; and (d) Stone’s advanced age and failing health.This is an entirely reasonable recommendation, even if the process of arriving at it has been a train wreck.The Justice Department correctly observes that the sentence to be imposed is entirely up to the court. The DOJ’s recommendations are non-binding and frequently ignored by judges. Judge Berman Jackson has been thoroughly informed about what the non-binding guidelines say, as well as the cases for and against applying the enhancement.Furthermore, let’s imagine that, instead of orchestrating a fiasco, DOJ had efficiently managed any internal disputes (which are not uncommon) and had filed a single memo recommending a 37-to-46-month sentence — a memo that explained both the enhancement for threatening witnesses and why applying it would be unreasonable under the circumstances. Does anyone doubt that such a recommendation would nevertheless have been panned as excessive by the president?For now, while Trump has taken to attacking both the resigning prosecutors and Judge Berman Jackson on Twitter, it appears that former U.S. attorney Liu is taking the fall. Within hours of the prosecutors’ trumpeting their departures in grand Sally Yates style, the White House announced that the president had pulled Liu’s appointment to the Treasury Department position — even though her confirmation hearing was just two days away, and Barr had lavished praise on her upon appointing Shea as her replacement.Liu certainly had a tumultuous tenure. Besides the thankless task of inheriting the Mueller cases against Stone and former national-security adviser Michael Flynn (the implosion of which is a story for another day), her office foolishly pursued a threadbare Mueller-generated prosecution of Greg Craig for false statements based on lobbying for Ukraine. Craig, former White House counsel to President Obama, was speedily acquitted by a jury last year. Meanwhile, there was also a mini-revolt on the Senate Judiciary Committee a few months back when the president floated the idea of elevating Liu to the No. 3 leadership slot at the DOJ — though she was vigorously defended by AG Barr, and suspicions that she lacked conservative bona fides appear overwrought (the fact that Liu may be pro-choice hardly means she would not enforce laws regulating abortion; and a claim that, 15 years ago, she opposed Justice Samuel Alito’s appointment to the Supreme Court appears to be false).I would not suggest that Liu and others at the DOJ distinguished themselves in the Stone sentencing debacle. But at this point, the main fault lies with the president.Yes, the Mueller probe was specious. But for his connection to Trump, Stone would never have been pursued in a collusion fever dream that Mueller’s prosecutors knew was bogus when they charged him. Yet his crimes, while exaggerated, were real. He was convicted by a jury and, under federal law, that presumptively warrants incarceration, though he could be spared by the judge (whom the president has picked a strange time to antagonize). If the president thinks that Stone and Flynn (among others) have been given a raw deal, the Constitution empowers him to pardon them, or at least commute their sentences.If President Trump is afraid, in an election year, to take the political hit that a pardon for Stone would entail, that is understandable. But then he should bite his tongue and click out of Twitter. The Justice Department’s job is to process cases, including Mueller cases, pursuant to law. If the president wants to make those cases disappear, he has to do it himself and be accountable. His provocative running commentary only ensures that the DOJ will be accused of kowtowing to him. It also guarantees that, if the ongoing criminal probe of the Russiagate investigation eventually yields any indictments, they will be assailed as political persecutions rather than good-faith law enforcement.NEXT ARTICLEUnderstanding Why Religious Conservatives Would Vote for TrumpAndrew C. McCarthyANDREW C. MCCARTHY is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of BALL OF COLLUSION: THE PLOT TO RIG AN ELECTION AND DESTROY A PRESIDENCY. @andrewcmccarthy=Jessie Liu fired for not roll back sentence? done by tim shea? barr guy<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/politics/roger-stone-federal-prosecutors.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/politics/roger-stone-federal-prosecutors.html</a>These Are the Roger Stone Prosecutors Who Quit the CaseThe team of assistant U.S. attorneys withdrew from the case after the Justice Department overruled their sentencing recommendation and pushed for a more lenient punishment for President Trump’s former campaign adviser.By Neil VigdorFeb. 11, 2020They have clerked for Supreme Court justices, served at the State Department and orbited Robert S. Mueller III.On Tuesday, the four main federal prosecutors working on the obstruction and perjury case of Roger J. Stone Jr. shared another distinction: They quit the case. The abrupt withdrawals came after the Justice Department overruled their recommendation for a stiffer sentence for Mr. Stone, a longtime friend and informal adviser of President Trump. One of the prosecutors resigned outright.[The Latest: President Trump praises attorney general for intervening in Stone case.]The prosecutors had asked a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., to sentence Mr. Stone to up to nine years in prison for obstructing a congressional investigation, witness tampering and making false statements during the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Late Monday, Mr. Trump took a swipe at the prosecutors on Twitter, saying they were beholden to Mr. Mueller and had recommended an unduly harsh sentence in Mr. Stone’s case.
Here’s what we know about the prosecutors who withdrew from the case.Jonathan KravisAssistant U.S. attorney
Mr. Kravis, 42, said in a court filing on Tuesday afternoon that he had resigned from his post at the Justice Department and “therefore no longer represents the government in this matter.”He worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Also, he had been a trial attorney in the public integrity section of the Justice Department’s criminal division, according to his law school biography at George Washington University, where he was listed as a professorial lecturer.Mr. Kravis, who got his law degree at Yale University, previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. During President Barack Obama’s first term, he served as an associate White House counsel.Mr. Kravis clerked for Merrick B. Garland, the appeals court judge who was nominated by Mr. Obama for the Supreme Court in 2016, but never got a vote by the Republican-controlled Senate. He also clerked for Justice Stephen G. Breyer of the Supreme Court.Aaron S.J. ZelinskySpecial assistant U.S. attorneyMr. Zelinsky, 36, was the first of the four prosecutors to file a withdrawal notice in federal court, which said that he had “resigned effective immediately” from his role as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.He will remain an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, said Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, where Mr. Zelinsky worked under Rod J. Rosenstein when Mr. Rosenstein was the top federal prosecutor in the state. Mr. Rosenstein went on to become the deputy attorney general.Mr. Zelinsky played a central role in the prosecution of George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Papadopoulos served 14 days in jail.Mr. Zelinsky clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy before his retirement from the Supreme Court and for Justice John Paul Stevens after his retirement. He worked for the State Department during the Obama administration and received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Yale.Adam C. JedSpecial assistant U.S. attorneyMr. Jed, 38, was part of the cadre of lawyers who worked for Mr. Mueller on the 22-month Russia investigation. He entered the spotlight when he argued in pretrial litigation that certain records should be sealed from the public in order to protect the open investigation.Mr. Jed had previously worked as an appellate lawyer for the Justice Department’s civil division, where he gained recognition in 2013 for arguing that a ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.He also clerked for Justice Stevens, according to Harvard Law Today, an alumni publication of the university where Mr. Jed got his law degree in 2008.Michael J. MarandoAssistant U.S. attorneyMr. Marando, 42, became the fourth and final member of the prosecution team to withdraw from the Stone case on Tuesday.He is an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, where he has prosecuted money laundering, fraud and sex offender cases.In January, Mr. Marando helped to secure a 60-month prison sentence for a Virginia man who pleaded guilty to stealing over $1.3 million from companies and individuals by requiring deposits for bogus loans.In March 2018, he secured an 18-month prison sentence for a dual citizen of Russia and Israel who had pleaded guilty to money laundering as part of an international fraud scheme.Mr. Marando received his undergraduate and law degrees from Cornell University, according to his wedding announcement in The New York Times.<div>
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</div><div><a href="https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-pulls-treasury-nomination-for-prosecutor-who-oversaw-roger-stone-case-two-days-before-senate-hearing/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-pulls-treasury-nomination-for-prosecutor-who-oversaw-roger-stone-case-two-days-before-senate-hearing/</a></div><div>
</div><div>no lnx twt</div><div>Trump Pulls Treasury Nomination for Prosecutor Who Oversaw Roger Stone Case Two Days Before Senate Hearing</div><div>JERRY LAMBE Feb 11th, 2020</div><div>The onslaught at the Department of Justice continued Tuesday evening, as President Donald Trump is reportedly withdrawing the nomination of former United States Attorney Jessie Liu to serve as the undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes at the Treasury Department.</div><div>
</div><div>According to Axios, Liu’s nomination has been pulled two days before she was scheduled to testify on Thursday morning before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. This is notable because Liu led the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. and oversaw the criminal prosecution of longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone.</div><div>
</div><div>The Stone case turned into a flashpoint for serious controversy after the DOJ undercut the original sentencing recommendation of prosecutors formerly under Liu’s watch. Those prosecutors recommended seven to nine years in prison for Stone, but Trump promptly inserted himself into the case and the DOJ ultimately declined to back its own prosecutors. In response to the DOJ’s audacious intrusion into the politically-charged case, all four prosecutors involved in prosecuting Stone withdrew from the case within a matter of hours on Tuesday afternoon.</div><div>
</div><div>Liu stepped down from leading the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. in December after the president announced that she would be nominated for a Treasury role requiring the confirmation of the Senate.</div><div>
</div><div>Attorney General William Barr promptly installed Timothy Shea as U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. to replace Liu. Shea was Barr’s former counsel at the DOJ, and this evening it was Shea’s name that appeared on a new sentencing memo for Stone suggesting “far less” time behind bars. Prosecutors reduced the prison recommendation to a range of three to four years. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Crabb Jr.’s name was on the new memo as well. Shea will also be overseeing the controversial Michael Flynn case.</div><div>
</div><div>Liu was reportedly under the impression that she would be staying in her position as U.S. attorney at least through Thursday’s hearing (if not her confirmation). Then she was informed that Barr had already selected Shea to replace her.</div><div>Legal and political experts were more than a little suspicious that Liu’s nomination was withdrawn just a couple days before she was scheduled to provide sworn testimony to the Senate–when she absolutely would have been asked about today’s events and/or her old job.</div><div>
</div><div>Former Obama Administration Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General Eric Columbus said the nomination was “clearly” pulled so the Senate wouldn’t have the opportunity to ask her questions while she was under oath.</div><div>
</div><div>Chris Lu, the former Deputy Secretary of Labor under President Barack Obama, said Liu’s withdrawal made an already crazy day even crazier.</div><div>
</div><div>“This is getting even crazier,” he wrote. “Now the U.S. attorney who oversaw the Stone prosecution seems to be getting punished. And this is happening after she gave up her job to a Barr associate.”</div><div>Washington Post legal reporter Spencer Hsu called the move “remarkable.”</div><div>
</div><div>Others wondered if this went much deeper than Stone.</div><div>
</div><div>Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, famously fired by Trump and commenting on the day’s events more broadly, said DOJ leadership doesn’t seem to care about its independence.</div><div>
</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">cnn</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...Liu stepped down from her job before she was confirmed to the Treasury position, an unusual move. That office is now run by Tim Shea, a close adviser to Attorney General Bill Barr.</div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-10 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><div class="zn-bodyread-all" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_CD4C582F-0740-17BC-A7A1-3AF1ECA32D12" data-act-id="paragraph_6" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">According to a separate source familiar with the situation, despite multiple warnings from people around her that there was a campaign actively working against her, Liu was blindsided when her second potential nomination in a year fell apart.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_CD4C582F-0740-17BC-A7A1-3AF1ECA32D12" data-act-id="paragraph_6" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_DE947077-2F08-927D-87E7-3AF3A5BD7E11" data-act-id="paragraph_7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">The White House dismissed concerns from a group of conservative lawyers about her nomination[really?] , but remained hung up over her role overseeing the politically charged cases in the US Attorney's Office. It was the Stone sentencing recommendation that moved Trump to pull the nomination.</div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-14 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_256B1026-26BA-052C-37F3-3B03E2220A7A" data-act-id="paragraph_8" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told lawmakers Wednesday he was informed about the Liu decision two days ago.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_9E3C0FB3-2136-E83A-7C3E-3B048F158B71" data-act-id="paragraph_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"I believe it was two days ago," he said when asked by Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the President's budget.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_56884984-96CC-B668-A8CA-3B048F179B18" data-act-id="paragraph_10" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Brown asked Mnuchin why she was withdrawn a few days before she was expected to show up for her confirmation hearing and referred to the nixed nomination as part of the President's "retribution tour."</div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-18 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_15074BB2-85D5-3331-127D-3B048F1F5730" data-act-id="paragraph_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"Nominations are at the President's direction," said Mnuchin, who declined to provide further comment.</div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" data-paragraph-id="paragraph_41A5E79E-0394-EC21-B433-3AF85F5B5DF1" data-act-id="paragraph_12" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">CNN's Kristen Holmes and Donna Borak contributed to this report.</div></ul></ul></div></div><div>=</div></ul>=5/20
omfg<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/on-putins-payroll-what-the-corrupt-move-to-drop-the-case-against-michael-flynn-really-means">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/on-putins-payroll-what-the-corrupt-move-to-drop-the-case-against-michael-flynn-really-means</a>dcj dc reptrIn a major step toward establishing a Trump dictatorship, the Justice Department moved Thursday to drop the criminal case against confessed felon Michael Flynn, the retired Army general and secret foreign agent who was Trump’s first national security adviser.Instead of seeking equal justice under law, an extraordinary court filing demonstrated that Trump has one standard of justice for his enemies and an entirely different one for his allies. The court action shows how fully Trump has turned our Justice Department into his personal protection agency.The 108-page court filing is rife with falsehoods and tortured interpretations of established facts, a mendacious necessity since Flynn twice confessed to multiple crimes under oath in open court. It argues that the lies Flynn told FBI agents were not “material” to the case against him. The trial court judge has already dismissed that as nonsense.<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: none !important;">Flynn was secretly a well-paid agent of foreign interests while serving as Trump’s national security adviser.</blockquote>It also argues that there was no legitimate reason ever existed to investigate Flynn, an astonishing claim since Flynn was secretly a well-paid agent of foreign interests while serving as Trump’s national security adviser. The claim is all the more remarkable because it is made by an ostensibly Republican administration after decades of Republican clamor about Russian spies and influence peddling.Based on all this and more we can now reasonably refer to Trump’s Injustice Department.Trump could have pardoned Flynn. “He was an innocent man,“ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcfRCklTnWo" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Trump said in a bald-faced lie in front of video cameras Thursday afternoon</a>. “I’m very happy for General Flynn.”But a pardon would not have allowed Trump to mark his territory, signaling to any who dare challenge his assertions that he is above the law.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">From President to Dictator</h3>By demonstrating unfettered control over our Justice Department, Trump has achieved a critical step required for a transition from a president with limited authority to de facto dictator.The motion to drop the Flynn case fits <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/23/trump-falsely-tells-auditorium-full-teens-constitution-gives-him-right-do-whatever-i-want/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Trump’s fact-free declaration</a> last summer that “I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president.”Our Constitution allows no such thing. You might think that Trump, who has been saying since 1987 that he should be president, would have read Article II, which is only 1,023 words. But either Trump never read Article II or he doesn’t care about the limits it places on him including the requirement that he “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”Attorney General William Barr—better and properly called Attorney Specific to Trump—lacks unilateral power to dismiss the case against Flynn. Dismissal requires court approval under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_48" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure</a>.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Admitted His Crimes</h3><a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2017/3/9/14868680/trump-adviser-michael-flynn-foreign-agent-turkey-lobby" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Eminent lawyers stood beside Flynn when he confessed twice in open court to felonies</a>. He allocated to crimes for which charges were dropped in a plea deal. Given this robust record of criminality, the Injustice Department’s action raises obvious questions:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Will Republican senators, notably lawyers Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Lamar Alexander and Ted Cruz, at long last stand up for the rule of law or continue as moral jellyfish – blind, spineless and floating aimlessly in the waves of chaos and corruption flowing from the Trump White House?</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Will Speaker Nancy Pelosi authorize House investigative hearings into Trump violating his oath to “faithfully execute” the duties of his office and endangering our national security?</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">If Trump persists with his refusal to cooperate with all House investigations, will Pelosi exercise the House’s Constitutional power to arrest recalcitrant witnesses, including Barr, and if appropriate to try them and upon conviction incarcerate them for contempt of Congress and other crimes?</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Will Joe Biden pledge that if elected his Justice Department will fully pursue the Russian connections to Trump and his campaign until we find out why Team Trump has worked so diligently to hide the truth?</li></ul><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Justice Department Turmoil</h3>The extraordinary court filing follows what must have been a ferocious, months-long fight inside Barr’s Injustice Department because some career prosecutors resignedfrom the case earlier to avoid sullying their reputations.The Thursday motion was signed only by Timothy Shea, a Barr protégé installed three months ago as acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.Missing from the latest court papers were the signatures of Jocelyn Ballentine, an assistant prosecutor, and Brandon Van Grack, a veteran espionage case prosecutor. Van Grack resigned from the case in a one-sentence filing just moments before the motion to dismiss was submitted to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of U.S. District Court.Judge Sullivan can order Justice and its lawyers to explain these unusual actions. He could refuse to allow the case to be dropped or allow it, but with leave to refile the charges in the future. That would make Flynn vulnerable if Trump does not get a second term.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;">On Putin’s Payroll</h3>Flynn and his company were on Putin’s payroll and worked for Turkish interests with deep ties to the Kremlin. Flynn was paid at least $680,000, some of which he lied about. At the time he was the president elect’s designated national security adviser.After the allocation, Judge Sullivan told Flynn “arguably you sold out your country.” (Trump, on Thursday, called Flynn “a hero.”)“All along, you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security advisor to the president of the United States,” Sullivan told Flynn.  “That undermines everything this flag over here stands for,” Sullivan said.“This is a very serious offense… A high ranking senior official of the government making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation while in the White House, very serious crime.”That the Trump administration would shield a secret foreign agent who was the White House intelligence chief shows how important it is to Trump that he keep Flynn in his fold. Flynn made himself susceptible to blackmail by taking Russian money and lying about it, but it is not known if Flynn engaged in unquestionably traitorous conduct.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">More Kremlin Connections</h3>The Flynn case has its roots in Russian interference to help Trump win the 2016 election. So do other allies. Among these are the felony prosecutions of Roger Stone, Trump’s dirty tricks specialist, and campaign Manager Paul Manafort, a longtime foreign agent for dictators and Russian-speaking criminals and politicians.Trump denies the Russians helped him become president. But America’s intelligence agencies, the bi-partisan chairs of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the 418-page Mueller report and emails from none other than Donald Trump Jr. all make clear the Kremlin helped Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. The only issue on which the facts are not complete was whether Trump was a passive beneficiary or he knowingly worked with the Kremlin, whether obliquely or hand-in-glove.The president’s eldest son was told in writing in June 2016 that the Kremlin wanted to help his father become president. Trump Jr. replied enthusiastically “love it” and then met at Trump Tower with Kremlin agents. The son then lied and denied, telling both Fox News and ABC News that no such contact took place. More than a year later, as The New York Times was about to expose these lies, the namesake son released the damning emails.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Economic Collapse and Riots</h3>Trump has openly talked six times about <a href="https://theweek.com/speedreads/852099/trump-just-joked-about-being-president-life--6th-time" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">being president for life</a>. When criticized for such assaults on American Constitutional principles, Trump lamely claimed he was joking. He also said last June that he anticipates that after completing the maximum of two terms his supporters will “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-supporters-might-demand-that-he-serve-more-than-two-terms-as-president/2019/06/16/4b6b9ae2-9041-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">demand that I stay longer</a>.”Trump campaigned on a promise to destroy our government, an issue that has disappeared from the news after getting almost no attention during his campaign.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">‘Country Goes to Total Hell’</h3>That promise came after <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/country-goes-hell-2014-video-shows-trump-bragging-crash-economy-get-way/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Trump told Fox News in 2014</a> how to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. “When the economy crashes, when the country goes to total hell, and everything is a disaster… you’ll have riots to go back to where we used to be when we were great,” he said.On Wednesday, as the pandemic death toll surpassed 75,000 Americans he <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/06/trump-supreme-court-obamacare-240366" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">renewed his demand that the law be made history</a>. Repeal would leave at least 20 million Americans with no health insurance.Just weeks after assuming office Trump held an unannounced meeting in the Oval Office with Russia’s foreign minister and Russian ambassador and a “photographer” for the Kremlin-owned Tass news agency. The Russians revealed the meeting. They also disclosed that Trump gave them “sources and methods” intelligence, which is closely guarded to protect human and technological assets.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;">Trump Places Trust in Putin</h3>In 2018 in Helsinki Trump declared that he trusts Putin fully, but not America’s intelligence agencies.Trump has met alone with Putin and Putin subordinates through his presidency. He ripped up the notes of his translator after one meeting, a crime under federal law. He met alone with Putin for at least one lengthy conversation using Putin’s interpreter.These actions demonstrate Trump’s disloyalty and unfitness to be president, yet Senate Republicans refused to hear testimony after the House impeached him last year. Senate Republicans then voted twice not to convict except for one vote by the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, now the junior senator from Utah.This latest abuse of power to protect a criminal crony who was on Vladimir Putin’s payroll and a secret foreign agent is more than an impeachable offense. Trump, Barr and Shea also sent a clear message: Team Trump harbors no regard for the rule of law, the foundation of our liberties and democratic freedoms.<div>=</div>