Michael Flynn’s Legal Team Throws Down the Gauntlet

Former special counsel Robert Mueller listens to committee members give their opening remarks before he testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing on his report on Russian election interference, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Wednesday, July 24, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The case of Michael Flynn’s plea deal, which he made after being strong armed by Robert Mueller’s virtuous troop, continues to drag out. This time, Flynn’s lawyers are back in court and they are going hard at the DOJ’s conduct.

As the Washington Examiner Reports, Flynn’s legal team is presenting their case to the presiding judge that the DOJ continues to hide evidence that could exonerate Flynn.

NEW: Flynn’s lawyers argued in court today that DOJ purposely withheld exonerating info prior to Flynn’s plea deal — and that DOJ continues to hide info from the defense. This includes docs related to McCabe, Strzok, Page, Comey, Flynn’s FBI 302s, & more.https://t.co/9W325kw8gH

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) September 10, 2019

Mike Flynn’s attorneys said the government is hiding evidence that could help President Trump’s former national security adviser.

Sidney Powell, the head of Flynn’s new legal team, claimed in court Tuesday the Justice Department withheld evidence related to Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, James Comey, Flynn’s FBI interview notes, and more.

“There never would’ve been a plea to begin with” if Flynn knew how much information DOJ was hiding, Powell said. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 for lying to investigators about conversations with the Russian ambassador.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who is presiding over the case, gave Powell an unusual amount of leeway as she argued the government withheld information from her client to pressure him into accepting a guilty plea, which he never would’ve done had he been aware of all the facts. Flynn’s sentencing has been delayed for a year as he cooperated with the government.

When you look at how Flynn was entrapped, it’s obvious the FBI/DOJ are hiding something here and want to save face. We know Flynn did nothing illegal by participating in the phone call with the Russian Ambassador during the 2016 transition period. We know the agents who interviewed Flynn did not think he was lying. We also know Flynn was strung along by Andrew McCabe and James Comey, who presented the interview as just a friendly chat, nor that he was under any kind of investigation.

But more things are being exposed now. Namely, that the DOJ knew Flynn had not violated the Logan Act, but still used it to threaten and force him into a plea deal.

She claimed documentation exists that shows then-FBI deputy director McCabe ruled out Logan Act charges against Flynn in January or February of 2017, yet DOJ “egregiously” held the possibility of being charged under the 18th-century statute over his head during plea negotiations anyway.

Powell said the defense still hadn’t been given access to all the interview notes from Flynn’s discussions with FBI agents, including one written by agent Joe Pientka that the government claims it no longer has.

I can hear the rebuttals now. “Well, it’s his fault for taking the plea.” Nonsense. When you have Robert Mueller, with unlimited resources, bringing the entire weight of the federal government down on your head and financially destroying you, you take the plea to the lesser charge. There’s also been much talk that Mueller threatned to go after Flynn’s son as well.

None of this happened on the up and up. Mueller wanted a scalp and Flynn was one of the few he could take while still bandying a “Russian collusion” story line, even though the phone call itself turned out to be nothing.

For the DOJ’s part, they argue they did give Flynn the text messages in question.

Brandon Van Grack, formerly of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team who now heads up DOJ’s FARA unit, told the judge that “following the court’s standing Brady order has always been the guideline the government has pursued.” The prosecutor said that, before Flynn’s plea deal, Flynn had been made aware of the Strzok-Page texts “before the public knew they existed.”

“The government has never alleged that Mr. Flynn was an agent of Russia,” Van Grack said. “He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about particular issues related to Russia, not about being an agent of Russia.”

Again, this is nonsense. Flynn only pleaded out because the government were threatening him (and his son) with FARA and Logan Act violations. Now the DOJ wants to claim they were never worried about Flynn being a Russian agent. That’s some serious spin by the government. You can’t use something to beat someone into a decision and then claim that something was never relevant to the decision being made. Of course it’s relevant, going all the way back to whether Flynn had all the information necessary to make the right choice on taking the plea deal.

This kind of game playing by the DOJ and Mueller is exactly why no one trusts these agencies anymore. If Flynn had evidence hidden from him, the pleas should be vacated. As it stands though, it doesn’t appear Judge Sullivan, who’s more than shown his bias in this case, wants to do that. Instead, the more likely scenario here is that Flynn isn’t sentenced to any jail time.

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