kelner, rob covington

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">see jiu</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">see barb ledeen</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>flynn fired him for kraken?! powell presumably failed so he had to get trump pardon</b>
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not fedsoc?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guardian (bunch of djt liars</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.15; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Robert Kelner</font></h2><div class="ad-slot-container offset-right ad-slot--offset-right ad-slot-container--offset-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 12px -398px 12px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: center; display: flex; -webkit-box-pack: center; justify-content: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); float: right; max-width: 300px;"><div id="dfp-ad--inline3" class="js-ad-slot ad-slot ad-slot--inline ad-slot--inline3 ad-slot--sky ad-slot--rendered" data-link-name="ad slot inline3" data-name="inline3" aria-hidden="true" data-mobile="1,1|2,2|300,197|300,250|300,274|fluid" data-phablet="1,1|2,2|300,197|300,250|300,274|fluid" data-desktop="1,1|2,2|300,250|300,274|fluid|300,600|160,600" data-google-query-id="CJuX8N_JlPkCFdGbWwodOtoJWw" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow: hidden; flex: 1 1 0%; align-self: flex-start;"><div class="ad-slotlabel" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 8px; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; height: 24px; max-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246); text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advertisement</font></div><div id="google_ads_iframe/59666047/theguardian.com/us-news/article/ng_2container" class="ad-slotcontent" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></div></div></div><p class="dcr-xry7m2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was sacked amid controversy over his interactions with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, during the presidential transition. The former three-star general had hired&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/robkelner?lang=en" data-link-name="in body link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Kelner</a>&nbsp;long before he left the administration,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2017/05/18/trump-team-knew-of-flynn-inquiry-before-hiring-him" data-link-name="in body link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">according to reports</a>. In March, the attorney&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/robkelner/status/847590575352270850" data-link-name="in body link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">offered to have Flynn testify before Congress</a>&nbsp;in exchange for immunity from prosecution.</font></font></p><p class="dcr-xry7m2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kelner is a prominent defense lawyer specialising in campaign finance and political law. He has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.law360.com/articles/862997" data-link-name="in body link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">significant experience</a>&nbsp;in counselling presidential appointees on the vetting process.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Such expertise has already come in handy. Flynn was appointed to the Trump administration despite receiving payments from the Russian state-funded news channel RT in 2015 and a firm with ties to the Turkish government in 2016 – both after he retired from the army. The precise manner in which Flynn was vetted&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-tries-deflect-flynn-vetting-questions-obama-administration-n752786" data-link-name="in body link" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">remains unclear</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;but in March, under Kelner’s counsel, Flynn&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/politics/michael-flynn-turkey.html?r=0" data-link-name="in body link" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">retroactively registered as a foreign agent</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;with the US justice department.</span></font></font></p><p class="dcr-xry7m2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kelner is also a Russian speaker and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-kelner-0822195/" data-link-name="in body link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">studied politics and Russian studies at Stanford University</a>.</font></font></p><p class="dcr-xry7m2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Washington DC-based attorney, who has also worked on behalf of the Republican National Committee, was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump during the campaign, mockingly referring to him as a “<a href="https://twitter.com/robkelner/status/755232836882468869" data-link-name="in body link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Manchurian candidate</a>” after he secured the Republican presidential nomination.</b></font></font></p><p class="dcr-xry7m2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In August last year, Kelner&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/robkelner/status/766456941073739776" data-link-name="in body link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">tweeted</a>&nbsp;that Trump had “gone rogue” with his “Moscow Centre … controllers”, after the then presidential nominee issued a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/08/18/490558406/watch-donald-trump-expresses-regret-for-sometimes-saying-the-wrong-thing" data-link-name="in body link" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">non-specific apology</a>&nbsp;on the campaign trail.</font></font></p><p class="dcr-xry7m2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Moscow Centre trying hard to re-establish radio contact with Trump’s controllers tonight,” Kelner wrote. “His quasi-apology suggests he’s gone rogue.”.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">..</span></font></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BS (bad code fed]</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Multiple congressional committees approached Michael Flynn’s original defense counsel to raise the prospect of immunity in exchange for Flynn’s congressional testimony but were spurned, multiple sources familiar with the interactions told The Federalist.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal investigators, representatives of multiple congressional committees with oversight responsibility for national security matters asked Flynn’s lawyers if Flynn would testify before Congress in exchange for a congressional grant of immunity. Robert Kelner, Flynn’s attorney at the time, immediately dismissed the overtures, sources told The Federalist. During one conversation, Kelner allegedly responded that in situations like the one facing Flynn, the prosecution essentially “owns” the defendant and added that he would be unlikely to pursue...Flynn was not told of these immunity conversations with congressional officials before they were rejected on his behalf, a source familiar with Flynn’s case told The Federalist. The former White House national security adviser and three-star Army general fired Kelner and the rest of his defense team at the Covington law firm in June 2019 and is currently trying to withdraw his guilty plea.

In court filings, Flynn has claimed that Kelner and others provided ineffective legal counsel and had significant unwaivable conflicts of interest that precluded them from diligently representing him in court, effectively denying him the constitutional right to counsel. Flynn is currently represented by attorney Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor with a history of exposing law enforcement corruption.

Kelner’s alleged rejection of congressional immunity overtures following Flynn’s guilty plea is especially curious given Kelner’s claimed attempts to explore congressional immunity for Flynn before Mueller had even been appointed to investigate the Trump campaign for illegal collusion with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In March 2017, prior to Mueller’s appointment, Kelner&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/03/30/read-statement-mike-flynn-lawyer/6L09AKaYKmihEgHlXxTWUM/story.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s; outline: none !important;">released a public statement affirming news reports that Flynn had sought congressional immunity</a>&nbsp;in exchange for his testimony.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit,” Kelner wrote on March 30, 2017. “Out of respect for the Committees, we will not comment right now on the details of discussions between counsel for General Flynn and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, other than to confirm that those discussions have taken place.”</font></font></p><div class="fdrlstb89e9-de18875717d15f44e56319bb584fd70f fdrlstb89e9-paragraph-6" id="fdrlstb89e9-de18875717d15f44e56319bb584fd70f" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Nothwithstanding his life of national service, the media are awash with unfounded allegations, outrageous claims of treason, and vicious innuendo directed against him,” Kelner continued. “No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution.”</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Flynn’s new attorneys argue that the entire investigation of Flynn was not only unfair from the outset, but legally unjustified as well. The judge overseeing the case has not yet ruled on Flynn’s motion to withdraw his plea or his motion to dismiss the case in its entirety due to egregious government misconduct.</b></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federal statute gives Congress and its committees the authority to grant immunity in exchange for testimony that might otherwise be protected by the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Oliver North, a former national security official in the Ronald Reagan administration, saw his federal convictions related to the Iran Contra scandal overturned due to immunized testimony he had provided to Congress.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is a raging debate over the implications and even the constitutionality of the federal congressional immunity authority statute, and it is unclear how a congressional grant of immunity in exchange for testimony might affect a guilty plea in an ongoing trial, given the lack of directly analogous court precedents on the matter.</font></font></p><div class="fdrlstb89e9-00ba57b9294feb1676bb2a41a944a2c5 fdrlstb89e9-paragraph-10" id="fdrlstb89e9-00ba57b9294feb1676bb2a41a944a2c5" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the&nbsp;<a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/fifth.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s; outline: none !important;">Congressional Research Service</a>, the mere existence of congressionally immunized testimony can make prosecutions more challenging, as was demonstrated in the North case.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daniel French, a former federal prosecutor, told The Federalist that failure to inform a client of any kind of immunity overture would be a shocking derelection of duty.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If they failed to get Flynn’s input on whether to pursue congressional immunity, that is an amazing example of ineffective assistance of counsel,” French said. “That is a fundamental failing of the role of an advocate as an attorney.”</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reached by phone on Wednesday afternoon, Kelner’s only comment in response to multiple phone calls and e-mails seeking comment was that he would respond briefly by e-mail. No e-mail response had been received by the time this article was published. Vanessa Le, counsel for the majority on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and Caitlin Carroll, a spokesman for SSCI, also did not respond to multiple requests for comment about Senate immunity-for-testimony overtures to Flynn’s defense team after Flynn’s guilty plea.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earlier this week, evidence emerged that Flynn’s Covington lawyers had negotiated a secret side deal with prosecutors working for Mueller. In that deal between Flynn’s then-attorneys and Mueller prosecutor Brandon Van Grack, prosecutors made clear that they would not go after Flynn’s son if Flynn pleaded guilty, raising the prospect that Flynn may have been coerced into pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit in order to protect his family.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We have a lawyers’ unofficial understanding that [prosecutors] are unlikely to charge Junior in light of the Cooperation Agreement,” Kelner wrote in an e-mail about the secret side deal.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stephen Anthony, a colleague of Kelner at Covington, noted in a separate e-mail that the deal to not go after Flynn’s son was not formally put on paper so as to avoid federal court requirements that all plea terms be disclosed to the court.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The government took pains not to give a promise to [Flynn] regarding Michael Jr., so as to limit how much of a ‘benefit’ it would have to disclose as part of its Giglio disclosures to any defendant against whom [Flynn] may one day testify,” Anthony wrote in an e-mail to Kelner and Covington colleagues Alexandra Langton and Brian Smith.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">News reports from late 2017 indicate that Mueller’s office was investigating the overseas business work of Flynn’s son and considering criminal legal action against him.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Van Grack, Mueller’s lead prosecutor in the Flynn case,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.justice.gov/file/1015121/download" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s; outline: none !important;">personally attested in documents provided in federal court</a>&nbsp;that “[n]o agreements, promises, understandings, or representations have been made by the parties or their counsel other than those contained in writing herein, nor will any such agreements, promises, understandings, or representations be made unless committed to writing and signed by your client, defense counsel, and the Special Counsel’s office.” It is difficult to square Van Grack’s claims to the court in light of the evidence suggesting a secret understanding between Flynn’s attorneys and Mueller’s prosecutors that Flynn’s son would no longer be targeted by Mueller if Flynn pleaded guilty.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Tuesday, Kelner informed the federal judge overseeing Flynn’s case that Covington had recently discovered thousands of pages of records related to Flynn’s case that the law firm had previously failed to turn over to Flynn after he fired them. In the court filing, Kelner claimed the law firm had accidentally searched the wrong case file in its initial attempt to find and deliver all documents related to Flynn’s criminal case and Covington’s representation of him in that case.</font></font></p><p /><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Covington determined that an unintentional miscommunication involving the firm’s information technology personnel had led them, in some instances, to run search terms on subsets of emails the firm had collected for its response to document requests in United States v. Rafiekian, the case involving Mr. Flynn’s business partner and their FARA-related work through their consulting firm, rather than on the broader sets of emails that should have been searched,” Kelner wrote in the filing.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Judge Emmet T. Sullivan, who took over the case after the previous judge was recused following reports the latter had an undisclosed personal relationship with Peter Strzok, one of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents overseeing the investigation of Flynn, immediately ordered Covington to execute a new and thorough source of all firm files and documents related to its legal representation of Flynn.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is FURTHER ORDERED that Covington & Burling LLP shall re-execute a search of every document and communication pertaining to the firm’s representation of Mr. Flynn,” Sullivan decreed. “It is FURTHER ORDERED that Covington & Burling LLP is FORTHWITH DIRECTED to produce to Mr. Flynn’s successor counsel all documents or communications concerning the firm’s representation of Mr. Flynn that were not previously transferred in the rolling productions. It is FURTHER ORDERED that Covington & Burling LLP shall file a notice of compliance with this Order by no later than 12:00 PM on May 4, 2020.”</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Covington’s admission that it had failed to turn over all relevant files to Flynn came just days after the Department of Justice (DOJ) informed the court that it had also discovered in its records significant exculpatory information about Flynn that it had previously failed to provide to Flynn as required by law. It is not known whether Covington’s disclosure was made as a result of DOJ’s disclosure, or whether there may be any overlap in the records that had been withheld from Flynn</font></font></p><p /><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Powell, Flynn’s current defense attorney,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/SidneyPowell1/status/1255526145249902592" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s; outline: none !important;">tweeted</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday morning that she and DOJ had jointly agreed that the exculpatory evidence DOJ turned over last week should be unsealed and made available for public review.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Prosecutors have provided @GenFlynn defense with redacted copies of the few pages of emails and notes produced this past Friday,” she&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/SidneyPowell1/status/1255526145249902592" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s; outline: none !important;">wrote</a>. “We will be filing a consent motion (under seal) jointly requesting the exhibit be unsealed immediately.”</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Stay tuned.”</font></font></p><div class="fdrlstb89e9-793f1afc8ede62159eaab4f06320c1d5 fdrlstb89e9-after-post-content" id="fdrlst__b89e9-793f1afc8ede62159eaab4f06320c1d5" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none !important;"><div class="article-author-description fst-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; outline: none !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sean Davis is CEO and co-founder of The Federalist. He previously worked as an economic policy adviser to Gov. Rick Perry, as CFO of Daily Caller, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and as chief investigator for Sen. Tom Coburn. He was named by The Hill as one of the top congressional staffers under the age of 35 for his role in spearheading the enactment of the law that created USASpending.gov. Sean received a BBA in finance from Texas Tech University and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School. He can be reached via e-mail at&nbsp;</span><a href="mailto:sean@thefederalist.com" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; transition: all 0.35s ease 0s; outline: none !important;">sean@thefederalist.com</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">buzz</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Republican Lawyers Group Backs Trump On "Rigged" Election Warning</div><div>
</div><div>A top conservative lawyer denounced Donald Trump's "dangerous and unprecedented attack on our democratic institutions." But the chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association called it a "possibility."</div><div>
</div><div>Chris Geidner</div><div>BuzzFeed News Reporter</div><div>
</div><div>Updated on October 16, 2016</div><div>
</div><div>Donald J. Trump</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">@realDonaldTrump</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary - but also at many polling places - SAD</span></div><div>
</div><div>16 Oct 2016</div><div>
</div><div>Even as leaders of and lawyers for both major political parties denounce Donald Trump's warnings that next month's election could be "rigged," one top Republican legal group is standing by the nominee.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"History has proven that some elections have involved serious questions and it remains a possibility in 2016," Randy Evans, the chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) and a partner at the global law firm Dentons, </span>told BuzzFeed News. "Only the rule of law performed by election workers enforced by lawyers informed by citizens decided by courts is the only sure way of making sure elections are open, fair, and honest. Time will tell whether that happens in 2016."</div><div>
</div><div>Asked directly about Trump's comments, Evans said it was "premature to say now" whether the candidate's words are appropriate or correct.</div><div>
</div><div>After initial publication of this report, the executive director of the association, Michael Thielen, responded to a second request for comment from BuzzFeed News — specifically asked the second time whether he agrees with Evans' comments — writing, "RNLA is working on an official statement in response from the association. Unfortunately as this is Sunday, that statement will not be ready until Monday."</div><div>
</div><div>Evans' comments represent a dramatic break with much of the rest of the Republican Party — which has either criticized Trump's comments or stayed quiet on the issue.</div><div>
</div><div><b>House Speaker Paul Ryan said Saturday that he is "fully confident" in the fairness of the election; Trump's own running mate, Mike Pence, said on Sunday morning that "we'll respect the outcome of this election"; and some leading Republican lawyers also have denounced Trump's remarks.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Donald Trump's effort to stir up trouble at polling places and to question, without any factual foundation, the fairness of the general election is a dangerous and unprecedented attack on our democratic institutions," <b>Robert Kelner — a partner at Covington & Burling</b> who has represented the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the past </span>— told BuzzFeed News.</div><div>
</div><div><b>"The only real threat to this election is the reported effort by Russian intelligence services to hack election systems, which is something that Trump himself has failed to condemn," Kelner said.</b></div><div>
</div><div>(On Saturday, BuzzFeed News reported on the group accused of being behind the targeted hack of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign, which the federal government says has been directed by senior Russian officials with an aim of interfering with the US election.)</div><div>
</div><div>Also on Saturday, a Republican election lawyer, Chris Ashby, went on a tweetstorm that went viral — and harshly criticized this latest line of attack from the Republican candidate.</div><div>
</div><div>"In addition to undermining public faith & confidence in our electoral system, which is foundational to the legitimacy of our government," Ashby tweeted, "It is undermining legitimate efforts to recruit & train watchers to observe this elex to ensure that it is free, open, fair and honest."</div><div>
</div><div>Pence's comments Sunday morning on CBS News' Face the Nation appeared to diverge from the growing standard position of the Trump campaign on the question of the legitimacy of the upcoming election — echoed by Sen. Jeff Sessions on Saturday when he said "[t]hey are attempting to rig this election" and by Trump's Sunday afternoon tweet.</div><div>
</div><div>UPDATE</div><div>October 16, 2016&nbsp;</div><div>This story has been updated to include comment from the executive director of the Republican National Lawyers Association.</div><div>=</div><div>
</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><b>'Thanks, Pal.' Read Trump Attorney's Message to Flynn Lawyer About Cooperation</b></div><div>"You know, remember what we’ve always said about the president and his feelings toward Flynn," Dowd said in his voice message to Covington's Robert Kelner, the full transcript of which was released Friday.</div><div>
</div><div>May 31, 2019 C. Ryan Barber More from This Author</div><div>
</div><div><b>Federal prosecutors on Friday revealed the full transcript of the voicemail a personal attorney for President Donald Trump left with Michael Flynn’s lawyer after the former national security adviser withdrew from a joint defense agreement, a signal that he had agreed to cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Much of the transcript of the Nov. 22, 2017, voicemail left with Covington & Burling’s Robert Kelner had previously been disclosed in the 448-page report prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller III and his team.</div><div>
</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/19/rob-kelner-the-guy-who-signed-flynns-fara-filings-continued-to-be-insubordinate-in-yesterdays-hearing/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/19/rob-kelner-the-guy-who-signed-flynns-fara-filings-continued-to-be-insubordinate-in-yesterdays-hearing/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">r</font><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/19/rob-kelner-the-guy-who-signed-flynns-fara-filings-continued-to-be-insubordinate-in-yesterdays-hearing/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Rob Kelner–the Guy Who Signed Mike Flynn’s FARA Filings–Continued to Be Insubordinate in Yesterday’s Hearing" data-wpel-link="internal" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: inherit; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">OB KELNER–THE GUY WHO SIGNED MIKE FLYNN’S FARA FILINGS–CONTINUED TO BE INSUBORDINATE IN YESTERDAY’S HEARING</font></a></div><header class="entry-content-header" 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="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-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; top: -8px; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><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-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>December 19, 2018</b></time><span class="text-sep text-sep-date" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; 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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>,&nbsp;<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>&nbsp;</span><span class="text-sep text-sep-cat" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">/</span><span class="blog-author minor-meta" 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;">by&nbsp;<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></span></span></span></span></font></span></header><div class="entry-content" itemprop="text" 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;"><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">Most of the attention in yesterday’s&nbsp;</span><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="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%;">Mike Flynn sentencing hearing</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;">&nbsp;has focused on </span><b>Judge Emmet Sullivan</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">’s invocation of treason, which I addressed at length&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/19/in-defense-of-emmet-sullivan-van-grack-suggested-mueller-did-review-whether-flynns-behavior-amounted-to-treason/" 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%;">here</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;">. But — particularly since I have belatedly realized that Rob Kelner&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/19/in-defense-of-emmet-sullivan-van-grack-suggested-mueller-did-review-whether-flynns-behavior-amounted-to-treason/#comment-764205" 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%;">is one of the lawyers</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;">&nbsp;referred to in the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/bijan-kian-ekim-alptekin.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%;">Bijan Kian indictment</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;">&nbsp;who filed a FARA registration that, because of lies attributed to Flynn and Ekim Alptekin, ended up being a false statement, I want to look at two bullshit answers Kelner offered yesterday about&nbsp;</span><b><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/13/on-emmet-sullivans-order-for-mike-flynns-302s-be-careful-what-you-ask-for/" 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%;">his little ploy</a>&nbsp;of introducing language on Peter Strzok and Andrew McCabe in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/181211-Flynn-Sentencing-Memo.pdf" 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%;">Flynn’s sentencing memo</a>.</b></font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Taking the second one first, Sullivan asked Kelner to explain why he chose to cite&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5628484/Show-Temp.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%;">Peter Strzok’s August 22, 2017 302</a>, which had some language about what a successful liar Flynn can be, and not&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5633496-181217-Flynn-302.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%;">Flynn’s own utterly damning January 24, 2017 302</a>. This was a question directing counsel to explain why he tried to pull a fast one over on the judge. Any responsive answer would have to address that January 24 302 (and wouldn’t need to address the McCabe memo, at all).</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But instead of answering that question, Kelner instead tried to use it to attack the Mueller team.</font></p><blockquote style="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-weight: 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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: The other puzzling question I have is this: Can you explain for the record why Mr. Flynn was interviewed by the FBI on January the 24th but the 302 cited in his sentencing&nbsp;memorandum is dated August the 22nd, 2017? There’s no reference, and the January 24th is not highlighted at all.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: Yes, Your Honor. Thank you for the opportunity to address that. I think there’s been some public confusion about that. The original draft of our brief cited specifically to the FD-302 for the interview of Special Agent Strozk and cited it specifically to the McCabe memorandum, and actually originally we intended to include those documents with the filing. Prior to the filing, we shared a draft copy of our brief with the Special Counsel’s Office really for two purposes: One was to make sure that we weren’t including anything covered by the protective order, which they objected to our including, which would, perhaps, have to be redacted or filed under seal; and the other reason, frankly, was generally to understand what their reaction might be to particular points in the filing. After that, the Special Counsel’s Office discussed it with us and asked that we consider removing the Strozk 302, and the McCabe memorandum from the brief and to simply cite to them. Given our position as cooperating in the investigation, we acceded to that. We then sent them a draft of the footnotes that we would use to cite to the relevant documents, and originally those footnotes, as drafted by us, named the McCabe memorandum specifically and named the Strozk 302 specifically so that it&nbsp;would be clear to the reader which documents we were talking about. The Special Counsel’s Office requested that we change those citations to simply reference the memorandum and date and the FD-302 and date without the names. We acceded to that request, and I would add would not have acceded to it if in any way we felt it was misleading, but we respected the preferences of the Special Counsel’s Office.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: All right. Any objection to what counsel said? Anything that you wish to add to that?</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. VAN GRACK: Judge, just one point of clarification.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: Sure.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. VAN GRACK: Which is what we’ve represented to defense counsel in terms of what to and not to include, what we indicated was anything in the Strozk 302 and the McCabe memorandum that they thought was relevant can and should be included in their submissions. What we asked was that they not attach the documents because, as the Court is aware, there are other considerations in the material there that we wanted to be sensitive to.</font></p></blockquote><p style="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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b>Look closely: Kelner&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">never actually answers Sullivan’s question</em>, at all. Instead, he blames the decisions surrounding how those materials were cited in Flynn’s memo (which was not Sullivan’s question) on Mueller’s office.</b></font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mueller’s team probably withheld the filings because there are legal proceedings involving both McCabe and Strzok. You can argue that those legal proceedings served as an excuse to hide embarrassing information and you might even be right. But that doesn’t give you permission to just blow off a legitimate question from the judge.</font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The second one is, given Kelner’s tenure of representation for Flynn, even more egregious.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sullivan unsurprisingly expressed difficulty squaring the suggestion that there were extenuating circumstances to Flynn’s brazen lies in his FBI interview with Flynn’s claim that he was accepting responsibility for his actions. So the judge asked Kelner why he included them.</font></p><blockquote style="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-weight: 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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: The references that I’ve mentioned that appear in your sentencing memorandum raise some concerns on the part of the Court. And my question is, how is raising those contentions about the circumstances under which Mr. Flynn lied consistent with acceptance of responsibility?</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: Your Honor, the principle reason we raised those points in the brief was to attempt to distinguish the two cases in which the Special Counsel’s investigation has resulted in incarceration, the Papadopoulos and Van der Zwaan cases in which the Special Counsel had pointed out as aggravating factors the fact that those defendants had been warned and the fact that those defendants did have counsel and lied anyway, and we felt it was important to identify for the Court that those aggravating circumstances do not exist in this case relevant to sentencing.</font></p></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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kelner — the guy who signed&nbsp;<a href="https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6406-Registration-Statement-20170307-1.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%;">a FARA registration</a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">he might have faced his own legal consequences for</em>&nbsp;if it weren’t for his client’s guilty plea accepting responsibility for the lies told in the registration himself — completely ignored Flynn’s FARA lies, both in his answer to this question and the brief generally. Flynn not only had benefit of counsel when he told one of the lies he pled guilty, again, to telling yesterday, Flynn had benefit of&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">his</em>, Rob Kelner’s,&nbsp;counsel.</font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And Kelner is only avoiding consequences for those FARA filings himself because (the existing story goes) his client is such an egregious liar, he has also lied to him, his lawyer, in the past.</font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That seems like a pretty major aggravating factor.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Much later in the hearing, when Kelner realized his client was facing prison time, he tried to take responsibility for all the things that showed up in that sentencing memo. Rather than leaving well enough alone, Kelner renewed his bullshit claim that what George Papadopoulos and Alex Van Der Zwaan did was worse than lying to the FBI and hiding your paid ties to a frenemy government. That led to Sullivan pointing out why even just Flynn’s lies to the FBI were, because he was in such an important role, worse than those of Mueller’s other false statements defendants.</font></p><blockquote style="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="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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: Your Honor, with your indulgence, if I could make a few points.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: Sure.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: First of all, let me make very clear, Your Honor, that the decisions regarding how to frame General Flynn’s sentencing memorandum made by counsel, made by me, made by Mr. Anthony, are entirely ours and really should not and do not diminish in any way General Flynn’s acceptance of responsibility in this case. And I want to make that —</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: That point is well taken, but you understand why I had to make the inquiry?</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: I do.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: Because I’m thinking, this sounds like a backpedaling on the acceptance of responsibility. It was a legitimate area to inquire about. And I don’t want to be too harsh when I say this, but I know you’ll understand.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[snip]</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: Right. We understand the Court’s reason for concern. I just wanted to make very clear the very specific reasons that those sections in the brief were included, to distinguish the Papadopoulos and Van der Zwaan cases, which did result in incarceration, we think are meaningfully distinguishable in many respects.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b>THE COURT: Let me stop you on that point, because I’m glad you raised that, and I was going to raise this point at some point. We might as well raise it now since you brought up Papadopoulos and Van der Zwaan. The Court’s of the opinion that those two cases aren’t really analogous to this case.</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> I mean, neither one of those individuals was a high-ranking government official who committed a crime while on the premises of and in the West Wing of the White House. And I note that there are other cases that have been cited in the memorandum with respect to other individuals sentenced in 2017, I believe, for 1001 offenses, and the point being made — and I think it’s an absolutely good point — the point being made that no one&nbsp;received a jail sentence. My guess is that not one of those defendants was a high-ranking government official who, while employed by the President of the United States, made false statements to the FBI officers while on the premises of and in the West Wing of the White House. That’s my guess. Now, if I’m wrong, then you can point me to any one or more of those cases. This case is in a category by itself right now, but I understand why you cited them. I appreciate that.</span></font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: Your Honor, we don’t disagree. We recognize that General Flynn served in a high-ranking position, and that is unique and relevant. But I —</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: Absolutely.</font></p></blockquote><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Kelner took that comment, and kept digging, claiming that Flynn’s cooperation should be worth more because his cooperation was more “consequential” than that of the little people.</font></p><blockquote style="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-weight: 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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: But I would submit to you a couple of points in response for the Court’s consideration. Number one, because of his high rank and because of his former high office, when it came time to deal with this investigation and to deal with the Special Counsel’s Office, that, too, set a higher standard for him, and he did understand that as a three-star general and a former National Security Advisor, what he did was going to be very consequential for the Special Counsel’s investigation, and very consequential for the nation, so he made decisions early on to remain low profile, not to make regular public statements, as some other people did. That was acknowledged by the Special Counsel’s Office when we did&nbsp;first hear from them, the value of that silence. And then he made the decision publicly and clearly and completely and utterly to cooperate with this investigation, knowing that, because of his high rank, that was going to send a signal to every other potential cooperator and witness in this investigation, and that was consequential, and we appreciate the fact that the Special Counsel memorialized that in his brief. That did make a decision, and that was another kind of high standard that was set for him and that he rose to and met decisively. In addition, there have been other cases —</font></p></blockquote><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sullivan interrupted Kelner at this point, perhaps in an effort to get him to stop damaging his client. It didn’t work though, because having argued that Flynn’s efforts to undo his lies were worth more than that of the little people, Kelner then … brought up David Petraeus.</font></p><blockquote style="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-weight: 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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: Can I just stop you right now? Is — How do you wish to proceed? Do you wish to proceed with sentencing today or do you want to defer it?</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: Thank you, Your Honor.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: Or are you leading up to that point?</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: I’m leading up to that.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: No, that’s fine.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: Just a bit of indulgence, if I may.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: No, no. Go ahead. That’s fine.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: And let me just finish that last point.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: No, no, no. I’m not trying to curtail you. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: I’m building up to it. I’m building up to it, Your Honor.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: All right.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: In addition, I would note there have been other high profile cases, one involving a four-star general, General Petraeus.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: I don’t agree with that plea agreement, but don’t —</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MR. KELNER: It’s a classic —</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE COURT: He pled to a misdemeanor?</font></p></blockquote><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right before Sullivan closed the hearing, he expressed his disapproval of that sentence once again with Kelner, presumably as a warning not to argue Flynn should get light treatment, like Petraeus did, because he’s an important decorated general.</font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While bringing up the double standard the Obama Administration used with Petraeus is totally fair game, especially in Espionage-charged leak cases (which this is not), this was an instance where Kelner either couldn’t hear or didn’t give a fuck about what the judge had already told him, which is that, having read all the sealed underlying documents, he believes the stuff Flynn lied about “is in a category by itself.”</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Honestly, if I were Mike Flynn and I had the money I’d fire Kelner after recent events, because — even if Kelner is not responsible for the ploy that badly backfired (and I suspect he’s not, at least not entirely) — by returning to sentencing with a different lawyer, you can try to start fresh with Sullivan, whom you’ve already pissed off.</font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But it’s not clear that Flynn can do that.</font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Because while firing Kelner might permit Flynn to claim he had nothing to do with this disavowal of responsibility that Kelner is now claiming responsibility for, Kelner’s still required to claim that Flynn is responsible for the false statements submitted in a document signed by Kelner back in 2017.</font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More importantly, according to Kelner, the Kian trial is the only thing left for Flynn to offer as far as cooperation.</font></p><blockquote style="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-weight: 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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nothing has been held back. That said, it is true that this EDVA case that was indicted yesterday is still pending, and it’s likely, I would think, that General Flynn may be asked to testify in that case. We haven’t been told that, but I think it’s likely, and he’s prepared to testify. And while we believe that the Special Counsel’s Office views his cooperation as having been very largely complete, completed at this point, it is true that there’s this additional modicum of cooperation that he expects to provide in the EDVA case, and for that reason, we are prepared to take Your Honor up on the suggestion of delaying sentencing so that he can eke out the last modicum of cooperation in the EDVA case to be in the best position to argue to the&nbsp;Court the great value of his cooperation.</font></p></blockquote><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It seems likely that if Kian goes to trial, it will be Kelner’s testimony, not Flynn’s, that might be most important.</font></p><p style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kelner and Flynn are yoked together, Kelner to the lies Flynn told him to file in that FARA filing, and Flynn to the insubordinate effort to dismiss the importance of Flynn’s lies.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); 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-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">As I disclosed in July, I&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/07/03/putting-a-face-mine-to-the-risks-posed-by-gop-games-on-mueller-investigation/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">provided information</a>&nbsp;to the FBI on issues related to the Mueller investigation, so I’m going to include disclosure statements on Mueller investigation posts from here on out. I will include the disclosure whether or not the stuff I shared with the FBI pertains to the subject of the post.&nbsp;</font></span></p><div class="pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-bottom-left" style="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-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/12/19/rob-kelner-the-guy-who-signed-flynns-fara-filings-continued-to-be-insubordinate-in-yesterdays-hearing/?print=print" class="pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print" target="blank" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; max-width: 100%; display: inline-block; position: relative; overflow: hidden; border: none !important; outline: none !important; box-shadow: none !important;">
<span class="image-overlay overlay-type-extern" 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: absolute; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); z-index: 300; height: 42px; width: 52px; opacity: 0; transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out 0s; display: inline-block; visibility: hidden;"><span class="image-overlay-inside" 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; height: 42px; width: 52px; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px;" /></span></a></font></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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><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><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;">&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/alex-van-der-zwaan/" 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%;">Alex van der Zwaan</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/andrew-mccabe/" 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%;">Andrew McCabe</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/bijan-kian/" 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%;">Bijan Kian</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/ekim-alptekin/" 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%;">Ekim Alptekin</a>,&nbsp;<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>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/george-papadopoulos/" 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%;">George Papadopoulos</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/peter-strzok/" 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%;">Peter Strzok</a>,&nbsp;<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></span></font></span></footer><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div></div></div></div>