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Flynn Breaks Silence After Appeals Court Orders Dismissal

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Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday spoke out on his case for the first time, calling the federal appeals decision to order his case dismissed a “good thing” for him and his family and “a great boost of confidence” for the American people and “our justice system.”

Flynn, on Wednesday afternoon, surprised Rush Limbaugh by dialing into his radio show, just hours after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered a lower court to allow the case against him to be dismissed, as requested by the Justice Department, likely ending the years-long legal saga stemming from the Russia investigation. . .

“I just want to say from the bottom of our hearts, you know, you’ve been right from the beginning, and we can’t thank you and your listeners enough for all the support that they have given us through this, through this fight,” Flynn said. “Obviously the fight’s not over, as you’ve been highlighting…not just today, but for a long time.”

Flynn added that “what the decision today is really—it’s a good thing for General Flynn, it’s a good thing for me, it’s a good thing for my family, but it’s a really great boost of confidence for the American people and our justice system.”

“Because that’s what this really comes down to,” he continued. “Whether or not our justice system is going to have the confidence of the American people in it, and boy—“ (Read more from “Flynn Breaks Silence After Appeals Court Orders Dismissal” HERE)

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Michael Flynn Wins Ruling Ordering Judge to Dismiss Case

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By Bloomberg. A federal appeals court ordered a judge to immediately dismiss the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

A divided three-judge panel on Wednesday said U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington did not have the authority to decide on his own whether to grant the government’s surprise motion to dismiss the case or examine whether it was part of a corrupt effort to aid one of Trump’s political allies.

“This is plainly not the rare case where further judicial inquiry is warranted,” the court said. “The government’s motion includes an extensive discussion of newly discovered evidence casting Flynn’s guilt into doubt.” (Read more from “Michael Flynn Wins Ruling Ordering Judge to Dismiss Case” HERE)

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Conservative Judges Order the Dismissal of Michael Flynn’s Case

By NBC News. . .By a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel said U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan had no choice but to grant the Justice Department’s motion to drop the case against Flynn.

“Because this is not the unusual case where a more searching inquiry is justified, and because there is no adequate remedy for the intrusion on ‘the Executive’s long-settled primacy over charging decisions,’ we grant the petition for mandamus in part and order the district court to grant the government’s Rule 48(a) motion to dismiss the charges against Flynn,” Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, wrote in the three-judge panel’s majority decision.

. . .Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec tweeted on the ruling as well, posting, “WIN in General Flynn’s case.”

Judge Robert Wilkins, appointed by former President Barack Obama, authored a partial dissent to the court’s ruling on Wednesday, saying that the appeals court should have waited to see whether Sullivan granted or denied the government’s motion to abandon the case before deciding whether to order him to drop it. (Read more from “Conservative Judges Order the Dismissal of Michael Flynn’s Case” HERE)

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Bizarre and Unconstitutional Circus in Michael Flynn Case Continues: Clinton Judge Says DOJ Dismissal is ‘Gross Abuse’ of Power

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The outside amicus curiae appointed by the presiding judge in retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s criminal case argued the Justice Department is engaged in “a gross abuse of prosecutorial power.”

Judge Emmet Sullivan, a Bill Clinton appointee who has been handling the Flynn case since December 2017, appointed retired New York federal judge John Gleeson in May to serve as an amicus curiae to present arguments in opposition to the Justice Department’s motion to drop the false statement charges against the former Trump national security adviser and to have the case tossed.

Gleeson, also a Clinton appointee who retired from the bench in 2016, said Wednesday that Sullivan should not grant the Justice Department’s request for a dismissal, arguing that “the Government’s statement of reasons for seeking dismissal is pretextual” and “the Government’s ostensible grounds for seeking dismissal are conclusively disproven by its own briefs filed earlier in this very proceeding.” He also claimed that the agency’s move to dismiss the case was “riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact” and “leave of court should not be granted when the explanations the Government puts forth are not credible as the real reasons for its dismissal of a criminal charge.”

Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor who took over as Flynn’s lead defense attorney last summer, previously told the Washington Examiner that Sullivan’s decision to appoint an outsider like this was “bizarre and unconstitutional.” She argued that “this travesty of justice has already consumed three or more years of an innocent man’s life” and that “no further delay should be tolerated.” (Read more from “DOJ Move to Dismiss Michael Flynn Case a ‘Gross Abuse’ of Power, Says Ex-Judge” HERE)

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Top Senators Blast Rogue Judge’s Refusal to Dismiss Flynn Case

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The actions of the rogue federal judge in the Michael Flynn criminal case are an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power that represent a “recipe for tyranny,” seven top senators, including the Senate Majority leader, told a federal court on Monday. In an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) blasted the refusal of Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to grant the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss charges against Flynn. Sens. Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Rick Scott (R-Florida), and Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) also signed the brief.

Sullivan’s actions violate the Constitution’s clear separation of powers on which branch of government may prosecute American citizens, the senators assert, citing the U.S. Constitution, quotes from Founding Fathers, and longstanding federal court precedent. According to the U.S. Constitution, the Executive Branch that houses the Department of Justice has the exclusive discretion to begin and to end a prosecution while the Judiciary has the power to decide cases or controversies. Just as the Executive cannot direct the Judiciary’s rulings, the Judiciary cannot direct the Executive’s prosecutorial decisions, the senators write.

No less than the former Chief Justice John Marshall described prosecutorial discretion as “‘an indubitable and a Constitutional power’ which permitted [the President] alone to determine . . . when to pursue and when to forego prosecutions,” the senators note, quoting the former chief justice from his time as a congressman. The senators reminded the court that Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 78 that “while the Executive ‘holds the sword of the community,’ the Judiciary ‘can take no active resolution whatever’ because it has ‘neither Force nor Will, but merely judgment.’” They quote James Madison in Federalist No. 47 that “[a]lthough individual liberty has ‘nothing to fear from the judiciary alone,’ it has ‘everything to fear’ from the union of the judicial and executive powers—which is a recipe for ‘tyranny.’” (Read more from “Top Senators Blast Rogue Judge’s Refusal to Dismiss Flynn Case” HERE)

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REVEALED: Declassified Flynn Transcripts COMPLETELY CONTRADICT Key Mueller Claims Against Flynn

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By The Federalist. Highly sought-after summaries and transcripts of intercepted phone calls between former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak contradict key claims made by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his criminal case against Flynn. The transcripts were provided to Congress on Friday and obtained by The Federalist. You can read the full documents here and here.

The intercept transcripts and summaries released on Friday afternoon cover calls between Flynn and Russian ambassador Kislyak or his representatives on December 22, 2016; December 23, 2016; December 29, 2016; December 31, 2016; January 12, 2017; and January 19, 2017. The substance of the December 22 conversation remains entirely classified, while the remaining transcripts and conversations are only lightly redacted. . .

Flynn was charged by Mueller in 2017 with making false statements to federal officials about conversations he had with Kislyak on December 22 and December 29, 2017. According to the charging documents from Mueller, Flynn allegedly falsely claimed to Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents that he did not ask Kislyak to “refrain from escalating” in response to U.S. expulsion of Russian diplomats and falsely claimed that he did not ask Kislyak to help defeat an anti-Israel resolution pending before the United Nations at the time. Mueller also claimed that Flynn lied when he said he didn’t remember Kislyak telling him that Russia would “moderate its response” to the expulsions.

The transcript of the December 29 conversation, which was cited by Mueller, does not include a request from Flynn that Russia “refrain from escalating” in response to U.S. expulsions of Russian diplomats. According to the transcript, Flynn asked Kislyak for Russia’s response to be “reciprocal” so that the U.S.–not Russia–would not be forced to escalate beyond the expulsions. The transcript makes clear that Flynn fully expected Russia to respond to the situation by expelling U.S. diplomats in response to the Obama administration’s move to expel nearly three dozen Russian diplomats from the U.S., and that his primary concern was preventing a situation where the U.S. would have to escalate tensions in response to Russia.

“Make it reciprocal,” Flynn reportedly said. “[D]on’t go any further than you have to. Because I don’t want us to get into something that has to escalate, on a, you know, on a tit for tat.” (Read more from “Declassified Flynn Transcripts Contradict Key Mueller Claims Against Flynn” HERE)

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Flynn-Kislyak Call Transcripts Released, Revealing Fateful Talks Over Russia Sanctions

By Fox News. Transcripts of phone conversations that took place in December 2016 between then-national security adviser designate Michael Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were released Friday, detailing the discussions that would later lead to Flynn’s FBI interview and subsequent charges. . .

The documents include a key Dec. 29, 2016 conversation in which Flynn repeatedly urged Russia not to dramatically escalate tensions in response to sanctions imposed by the outgoing Obama Administration over election interference.

It has been known that Flynn made such appeals to Russia during the transition period ever since the FBI pressed him for details about that discussion in early 2017. Flynn pleaded guilty in December of that year to a single count of lying to investigators.

Since that charge, Flynn has fought to withdraw his plea and the Justice Department earlier this month moved to drop the prosecution entirely, maintaining that the FBI’s interview was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.” (Read more from “Flynn-Kislyak Call Transcripts Released, Revealing Fateful Talks Over Russia Sanctions” HERE)

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It’s Not the Trump Administration Politicizing Flynn’s Case, It’s Judge Sullivan

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Not quite two weeks ago, Judge Emmet Sullivan threw open the doors of his federal courtroom to the swamp when he invited third parties to pontificate on the propriety of the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss the criminal charges against Michael Flynn. The next day Sullivan went further: He appointed a former federal judge, John Gleeson, as an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, to argue that the government’s motion to dismiss should be denied.

Judge Sullivan’s selection of Gleeson as amicus curiae gave away the game. The same day Sullivan named Gleeson as amicus curiae, an op-ed by Gleeson and two cohorts ran in the Washington Post declaring the government’s decision to dismiss the charge against Flynn “reeks of improper political influence.”

The Washington Post cloaked Gleeson and his co-authors, David O’Neil and Marshall Miller, with an aura of impartiality and authority by highlighting their past service in the Department of Justice: “John Gleeson served as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of New York and chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in that district. David O’Neil served as the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. Marshall Miller served as the highest-ranking career official in the Criminal Division and as chief of the Criminal Division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District.” . . .

Already the anti-Trump Protect Democracy Project has submitted an amicus curiae brief to Judge Sullivan. That brief rehashes many of the political talking points left-leaning pundits and politicians have been peddling since Trump took office, then argues that in seeking to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn, Trump and Barr have “flouted” the principle that the DOJ’s investigatory and prosecutorial powers should “be exercised free from partisan consideration.”

The irony couldn’t be richer. The Obama administration targeted Flynn because the glow of Orange Man Bad reached the retired general’s orbit. But, according to Protect Democracy, it is the Trump administration’s DOJ that is playing politics with prosecutions! (Read more from “It’s Not the Trump Administration Politicizing Flynn’s Case, It’s Judge Sullivan” HERE)

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Judge Emmet Sullivan Hires “High-Powered” DC Lawyer to Represent His Interests in Flynn Case

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The Washington Post headline reads (emphasis mine): “Federal judge hires high-powered D.C. attorney to defend his actions in Flynn case.” Which gives some insight into the framework and purpose of this event, and how it reached the WaPo narrative engineers.

The Washington Post is, as an institution, adverse to the interests of Michael Flynn. So this story, specifically the events behind the story, are written in a posture to aid Judge Sullivan and oppose Flynn. Keep that in mind (I’ll explain after).

Judge Sullivan has hired a high profile DC lawyer to assist him in responding to the inquires of the DC circuit:

WASHINGTON DC – […] In a rare step that adds to this criminal case’s already unusual path, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has retained Beth Wilkinson to represent him in defending his decision to a federal appeals court in Washington, according to a person familiar with the hire who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

[…] Wilkinson, known for her top-notch legal skills and get-results style, is expected to file a notice with the court in the coming week about representing the judge. She declined to comment when reached Friday evening. Sullivan also declined to comment through his office.

[…] A federal judge doesn’t typically hire private counsel to respond to an appeals court, and yet so much about Flynn’s case has been a departure from the norm.

[…] Flynn’s lawyers then accused Sullivan of bias and asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to intervene. On Thursday, that higher court took the extraordinary step of ordering Sullivan to answer within 10 days. The court also invited the Justice Department to comment.

[…] Wilkinson, a go-to advocate for prominent officials snared in major Washington investigations and high-stakes legal battles, now joins the fray. (read more)

I’m not going into the weeds to outline the motives of of Beth Wilkinson. Suffice to say the reason she is considered ‘high-profile’ or ‘high-powered’ is because of her connections to the DC system; a political system that frequently becomes enmeshed with the legal system. Beth Wilkinson is well-connected; that’s the part that matters.

A DC judge hiring a well connected lawyer to write his response to a DC circuit court appeals panel is the part that’s interesting. There’s no guarantee the appeals court will accept such a response; but that’s also another issue. Bottom line: Judge Sullivan is importing a lawyer to represent his interests. Very unusual.

CTH readers are smart; aware and smart enough not to get stuck in the weeds; so let’s stay elevated on this and look at the whole picture. Consider this decision by Judge Emmet Sullivan through the prism of recent events surrounding Flynn:

♦ The DOJ, joined with the defense position and filed an unopposed motion to drop the case against Michael Flynn.

♦ A USAO from Missouri, Jeff Jensen, has discovered a trail of internal evidence pointing toward a corrupt originating prosecution for the case against Flynn. Mr. Jensen has been revealing those documents and providing them to the court (and defense).

♦ Meanwhile DNI Ric Grenell has declassified and revealed documents showing a corrupt intent by the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) against Michael Flynn.

♦ Just yesterday (5/22/20) the FBI Director announced an internal investigation into officials inside the FBI for wrongful conduct specifically as it relates to a corrupt operation, now discovered and public, against Michael Flynn.

Additionally, we shall not play games and ignore the obvious.

Judge Emmet Sullivan is well aware of the reason why former Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Contreras was recused from the Flynn case; only days after accepting the first plea agreement, and less than 72 hours after the Peter Strzok and Lisa Page text messages publicly surfaced.

Lisa Page: “Rudy is on the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]! Did you know that?” “Just appointed two months ago””..

Peter Strzok: “I did. We talked about it before and after. I need to get together with him.”…

On November 30th, 2017, Mike Flynn signed a guilty plea; ostensibly admitting lying to investigators. The plea was accepted by Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Contreras; who is also a FISA court judge. Six days later, December 7, 2017, Judge Contreras “was recused” from the case without explanation.

If the conflict -which required recusal- existed on December 7, 2017, wouldn’t that same conflict have existed days earlier on November 30th?

The same DC court system now ordering Judge Sullivan to explain his decision-making (circuit), is the same DC court system that previously recused and replaced Judge Contreras from the Flynn case (district). None of this, including the specific tone of the panel in their order, is disconnected from the larger background.

So when we take everything in total, the decision by Sullivan to hire a high-profile and well connected DC lawyer to represent his interests in the Flynn case…. well, it looks to me like Sullivan just hired himself a defense attorney.

The phase of the “resistance” that federal Judge Emmet Sullivan was participating in, and had a role to play, is now almost totally engulfed in sunlight. With few options for deniability and justification remaining, Sullivan has hired himself a lawyer. (For more from the author of “Judge Emmet Sullivan Hires “High-Powered” DC Lawyer to Represent His Interests in Flynn Case” please click HERE)

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FBI Offered to Pay Christopher Steele ‘Significantly’ to Dig up Dirt on Flynn

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By Daily Caller. An FBI offer to pay former British spy Christopher Steele to collect intelligence on Michael Flynn in the weeks before the 2016 election has been one of the more overlooked revelations in a Justice Department inspector general’s report released in December.

The reference to the FBI proposal, which was made in an Oct. 3, 2016, meeting in an unidentified European city, has received virtually no press attention. But it might have new significance following the recent release of government documents that show that Steele peddled an unfounded rumor that Flynn had an extramarital affair with a Russian woman in the United Kingdom.

The inspector general’s report, released on Dec. 9, 2019, said that FBI agents offered to pay Steele “significantly” to collect intelligence from three separate “buckets” that the bureau was pursuing as part of Crossfire Hurricane, its counterintelligence probe of four Trump campaign associates.

One bucket was “Additional intelligence/reporting on specific, named individuals (such as [Carter Page] or [Flynn]) involved in facilitating the Trump campaign-Russian relationship,” the IG report stated. (Read more from “FBI Offered to Pay Christopher Steele ‘Significantly’ to Dig up Dirt on Flynn” HERE)

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Eli Lake: Why Michael Flynn Was Right to Withdraw His Guilty Plea

By Fox News. Bloomberg columnist Eli Lake told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” on Thursday that many people became “invested” in the original narrative about former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his alleged ties to Russia and refuse to change their opinion, even in light of the new information that has been revealed.

Lake discussed his new piece in Commentary Magazine, titled “The Railroading of Michael Flynn,” which takes an in-depth look at how the case against Flynn unfolded.

“I thought that when you look at all of the evidence, and a lot of this is evidence that was never shared with the defense counsel until about three or four weeks ago, let alone the public, I think that when those facts are changing you have to change our opinion on this,” Lake told host Brian Kilmeade.

“And unfortunately we’ve seen a number of the people so invested in the initial narrative about Flynn sort of forming a kind of wall around any kind of challenge to it.”

He went on to say that he thinks “it’s unfortunate, because in order for reform to work in our society we need both sides to sort of recognize when new facts come to light.” (Read more from “Eli Lake: Why Michael Flynn Was Right to Withdraw His Guilty Plea” HERE)

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FBI Director Orders Internal Investigation of Mike Flynn Probe (VIDEO)

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By The Blaze. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray announced an internal investigation into the alleged misconduct by FBI agents in the probe of former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn.

Wray made the announcement in a statement on Friday after revelations about the FBI questioning of Flynn that led him to plead guilty for lying.

“FBI Director Christopher Wray today ordered the Bureau’s Inspection Division to conduct an after-action review of the Michael Flynn investigation,” said the Bureau in the statement according to Fox News.

The statement said that the purpose of the probe was to see if any FBI employees acted improperly, and also to determine whether the bureau’s policies need to be amended and updated.

“Although the FBI does not have the prosecutorial authority to bring a criminal case, the Inspection Division can and will evaluate whether any current onboard employees engaged in actions that might warrant disciplinary measures,” the FBI added.

(Read more from “FBI Director Orders Internal Investigation of Mike Flynn Probe” HERE)

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Grenell Moving to Declassify Flynn-Kislyak Transcripts

By Politico. Outgoing national intelligence chief Richard Grenell says he is in the process of declassifying some of the transcripts of phone calls between former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia’s U.S. Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December 2016.

“The [intelligence community] doesn’t have all the transcripts/summaries,” Grenell tweeted Friday. “But I already started the declassification for the few we received. They should be released in full, though. The public deserves to see it.

Grenell’s comment came in response to a demand from House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, who called on Grenell to declassify and release the transcripts of the heavily scrutinized calls between Flynn and Kislyak — an episode that has fueled myriad political storms in the Trump era.

President Donald Trump fired Flynn weeks after those calls for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about the substance of those conversations, which included a request that Russia not escalate a tit-for-tat with the outgoing Obama administration over sanctions related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Read more from “Grenell Moving to Declassify Flynn-Kislyak Transcripts” HERE)

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Appellate Court Slaps Down Out-Of-Control General Flynn Judge, Orders Sullivan to Respond

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By Fox News. Is U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s collusion cameo nearing its end?

On Thursday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, on its own motion, ordered Judge Sullivan to respond within 10 days to the petition for a writ of mandamus filed by former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Earlier this week, Flynn’s counsel, Sidney Powell, filed the petition for that extraordinary writ, asking the appellate court to instruct Sullivan to grant the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case against Flynn.

That was after Judge Sullivan not only declined to grant the prosecution’s motion, but (a) invited non-parties to intervene in the case by filing amicus briefs (transparently, to make arguments that he somehow has authority to deny DOJ’s motion); and (b) appointed one amicus, former federal judge John Gleeson, as a quasi-prosecutor to make arguments that prosecutors are declining to make in favor of entering a judgment of conviction and sentencing Flynn. (Read more from “Appellate Court Slaps Down Out-Of-Control General Flynn Judge, Orders Sullivan to Respond” HERE)

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Mollie Hemingway: Obama Becoming ‘Chattier’ as More Is Learned About Flynn Investigation

By Fox News. The Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Wednesday that former President Barack Obama is “a little bit chattier” as more information regarding the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is revealed.

“[Obama’s] becoming more public as we learn more about how he went after him and undermined the peaceful transfer of government from his administration to the Trump administration and I think that’s why he’s a little bit chattier,” Hemingway, a Fox News contributor, told host Brian Kilmeade.

On Saturday, former President Obama, while speaking at an event for students graduating from historically black colleges and universities that was broadcast on social media, took a shot at government officials in charge of responding to the coronavirus, arguing that the pandemic showed they were incompetent.

Although Obama didn’t directly name President Trump, he has previously criticized the administration’s response as plagued by selfishness.

Obama’s comments came following the Justice Department’s move earlier this month to drop its case against Flynn after internal memos were released raising serious questions about the nature of the investigation that led to Flynn’s late 2017 guilty plea of lying to the FBI. (Read more from “Mollie Hemingway: Obama Becoming ‘Chattier’ as More Is Learned About Flynn Investigation” HERE)

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