WASHINGTON, June 12 — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and the Justice Department teamed up today in an unprecedented legal battle to force a federal judge to dismiss a criminal lying charge to which Flynn has already pleaded guilty.
Lawyers for the Justice Department and Flynn appeared before a federal appeals court to argue that US District Judge Emmet Sullivan had trampled on the executive branch’s powers by refusing to grant their request to dismiss the case.
Attorney General William Barr ordered the department on May 7 to dismiss the case against Flynn following pressure from Trump and his allies, leading to criticism that Barr was using his office to help the president’s political allies.
“We are here now today stop further impermissible intrusion into the sole power of the executive branch,” said Sidney Powell, a lawyer for Flynn.
“The judge has no authority to do anything further.”
Beth Wilkinson, an attorney retained to represent Sullivan, will argue later this morning that the judiciary branch is not a mere “rubber stamp” and that Sullivan has a duty to ensure that dismissing the charge is in the public interest.
The unusual nature of the case has drawn national attention, with critics accusing Barr of improperly meddling to benefit Trump.
The livestream of the oral arguments on YouTube this morning showed more than 14,000 users tuning in.
Retired Army Lieutenant General Flynn was one of several former Trump aides charged under former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that detailed Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
Flynn twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russia’s then-ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn switched lawyers to pursue a new scorched-earth tactic that accused the FBI of entrapping him, and asked the judge to dismiss the charge.
Sullivan refused to go along and tapped retired Judge John Gleeson to present arguments for why the charge should not be dismissed. — Reuters
