DOJ move to dismiss Michael Flynn case a 'gross abuse' of power, says ex-judge picked to review request
by Jerry Dunleavy, Justice Department Reporter |
| June 10, 2020 01:18 PM
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.â€
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.â€
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-move-to-dismiss-michael-flynn-case-a-gross-abuse-of-power-says-ex-judge-picked-to-review-request
