Whitaker: Flynn judge twisted the rules to keep the case alive
The judge in the Michael Flynn case hires a personal attorney as an appeals court looks at his decision not to immediately dismiss the charges; former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker reacts.
Oral arguments are set to take place this week, when U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan will have to explain why he has not signed off on the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss its case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The hearing marks another extraordinary turn in an extraordinary — and seemingly interminable — case that has brought pressure upon both the Justice Department and the judge overseeing it. After calling into question the DOJ’s choice to drop Flynn’s prosecution, Sullivan is now in the position of defending his own decision.
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“It is unusual for a criminal defendant to claim innocence and move to withdraw his guilty plea after repeatedly swearing under oath that he committed the crime,” Sullivan argued in a court filing, referring to Flynn’s past guilty plea of lying to investigators. “It is unprecedented for an Acting U.S. Attorney to contradict the solemn representations that career prosecutors made time and again, and undermine the district court’s legal and factual findings, in moving on his own to dismiss the charge years after two different federal judges accepted the defendant’s plea.”
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals got involved in the matter when Flynn requested what’s known as a writ of mandamus — in this case, an order from a higher court to a lower court or official to fulfill their duties — to force Sullivan to toss the case.