The Justice Department escalated its effort to end its case against former national security adviser Mike Flynn, urging a federal appeals court to force the federal judge handling the case to dismiss it.
In response to the Justice Department's rogue effort to drop the charges against Flynn for lying to the FBI, District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan appointed outside counsel to argue against the department's motion to dismiss and consider whether Flynn should be held in criminal contempt for perjury. Flynn pleaded guilty to the original charge several times in court before trying to withdraw his plea.
Attorney General William Barr, clearly running a personal errand for Donald Trump, wasn't happy with Sullivan's creative response. “Instead of inviting further proceedings, the court should have granted the government’s motion to dismiss,” top DOJ officials argued in a 45-page filing to a three-judge appeals court panel, according to Politico.
As Politico noted, the court filing was a breathtaking move toward "virtually unbridled executive branch discretion in criminal charging decisions." Perhaps that shouldn't be surprising given Barr's posture on blocking any and all oversight of the executive branch. But this latest filing obliterates the long-standing wall between the executive and DOJ that was intended to keep the department free from political influence by the president.
What is also particularly stunning about Barr’s effort to strong-arm Sullivan is that it comes the week after the public release of the calls that took place between Flynn and then-Russian ambassador Surgey Kislyak. The transcripts are absolutely damning. At no time during their interactions did Flynn object to Russia's attack on the U.S. election in 2016, its hacking of the DNC, or its efforts to sow division and hatred among Americans, despite the clear conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community.
In fact, Marc Polymeropoulos, the former head of the CIA’s clandestine operations in Europe and Eurasia, told The New York Times that Kislyak “played Flynn like a fiddle, particularly when Flynn astonishingly suggested that the U.S. and Russia should ratchet down tensions” after the Obama administration punished Russia for election interference.
Flynn also indicated to Kislyak that he felt more aligned with the Russians than with the Obama administration. “Do not let this administration box us in right now,” Flynn told Kislyak of the Obama administration's sanctions.
As Judge Sullivan once told Flynn at a sentencing hearing in December 2018: "Arguably, you sold your country out."
Now Barr is trying to go over Sullivan's head to toss the case against Flynn, who clearly did sell out his country.
