Travesty
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The Justice Department has abandoned its prosecution of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, throwing in the towel on one of the most prominent cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his dealings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
But department officials, including Attorney General William Barr, concluded in light of recently disclosed evidence that the FBI’s questioning of him just four days after Trump’s inauguration lacked a proper investigative basis.
"A review of the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information, indicates that Mr. Flynn’s statements were never 'material' to any FBI investigation," read the motion to dismiss the two-and-a-half year old criminal prosecution.
The move to dismiss the case was approved by Barr at the urging of a longtime federal prosecutor he assigned in January to conduct a review of the matter, Jeffrey Jensen, the U.S. Attorney in St. Louis.
"Through the course of my review of Gen. Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case," Jensen said in a statement. "I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed."
The bombshell court filing asking U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss the case bore the signature of only one prosecutor: U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea, a former Barr aide named to the post in January.
Moments before Shea's filing, the top prosecutor in the Flynn case withdrew abruptly and without explanation. Brandon Van Grack, who served as one of special counsel Robert Mueller's top lawyers and remained on the Flynn case even after Mueller's office closed down, signaled his exit from the case in a terse, one-sentence filing with U.S. Sullivan.
In another sign of discord, the prosecutor who handled the matter alongside Van Grack over the past year — Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballentine — was also absent from the filing seeking to drop the case.
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Former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe slammed the Justice Department’s decision to drop its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn on charges he lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russians.
“The DOJ has lost its way. But, career people: please stay because America needs you. The country is hungry for honest, competent leadership,” Comey tweeted.
The DOJ has lost its way. But, career people: please stay because America needs you. The country is hungry for honest, competent leadership.
— James Comey (@Comey) May 7, 2020
McCabe said in a statement Flynn had “high level interactions with Russian officials” whom he “actively tried to influence.” He also said Flynn had lied about the substance of his talks with Russian officials.“His lies added to our concerns about his relationship with the Russian government,” said McCabe. “Today’s move by the Justice Department has nothing to do with the facts or the law — it is pure politics designed to please the president.”
In a court filing Thursday, the Justice Department said it was moving to drop its case against Flynn and was no longer sure it could make its case.
Justice moves to drop case against Flynn
McCabe and Comey were both ousted from their positions at the FBI by Trump and have had long public feuds with the president.
McCabe was accused of lying to investigators about a leak to the media, but the Justice Department in February decided against bringing charges against him.
Comey was criticized by the Justice Department's inspector general in an August 2019 report over his handling of memos on his conversations with Trump and the FBI.
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I still don’t understand the particulars with respect to Flynn.
Yes - the FBI seems to have acted shady and overzealous (same with the FISA warrants)
But Flynn seems super shady too. He got fired for lying to Pence. He lied to the FBI. He doesn’t seem like a good operator either.
The biggest loser here seems to be the rule of law and American law enforcement institutions.
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The whole predicate of his prosecution was the phone call he had with the Russian ambassador. That call was tapped. Later, when questioned about it (without an attorney present) he made erroneous comments about the substance of the conversation. Those were later deemed to be "lies."
Obama knew that the call was tapped by the way.
Later, when FBI reviewed the case, after he plead to "making false statements," documentation came out that there was no evidence of him lying, according to FBI documents.
I'm not familiar enough with the reason for his plea deal, but apparently it has something to do with not prosecuting his son. That, in and of itself, is prosecutorial misconduct.
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I still don’t understand the particulars with respect to Flynn.
Yes - the FBI seems to have acted shady and overzealous (same with the FISA warrants)
But Flynn seems super shady too. He got fired for lying to Pence. He lied to the FBI. He doesn’t seem like a good operator either.
The biggest loser here seems to be the rule of law and American law enforcement institutions.
