U.S. appeals court orders judge to dismiss case against former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn

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Source: CNBC.

Thank goodness.

I see the order as a victory for the rule of law. When a prosecution drops its case, the presiding judge is obligated to dismiss it. Any other approach would invite miscarriages of justice.

Published by John Todd Roberts

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44 thoughts on “U.S. appeals court orders judge to dismiss case against former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn”

  1. The prosecutors who dropped the case are not the ones who prosecuted it. Political hackery has now been put on the front pages. No surprise that a Trump-appointed judge wrote the majority opinion.

    If you think a “thank goodness” over this is beneficial to the rule of law in this country, we care in trouble.

    And the dropping of the charges by Barr’s boys, IS a miscarriage of justice.

    Put it this way: If there had been a legitimate prosecution of Hillary Clinton for lying to the FBI that occurs near the end of Trump’s term, then Biden’s AG decides to drop the charges because of some made up reason, your head would explode. Think about it for just one second and if you think I am wrong, you are fooling yourself.

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      1. Because you AGREE with the decision. I don’t.

        A retired Army General NOT taking responsibility for his own words and actions is a disgrace to the uniform he once wore. He is a criminal in my mind who avoided punishment for his crimes because it was a political decision to drop the charges. Bill Barr’s DOJ is now a fully owned and operated subsidiary of The Trump organization. It disgusts me, and it should anyone who considers him or herself an American.

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      2. RE: “Because you AGREE with the decision.”

        Not at all. I agree with the decision on procedural grounds. The merits of the case itself are not at issue for me.

        But apart from that, you offer no evidence, only unsupported opinions.

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        1. Fact: Flynn lied to the FBI.

          fact Flynn lied to the court.

          Fact: Flynn has shirked responsibility for his actions in denying them.

          Facts, which are anathema to your way of thinking, unless they SUPPORT your argument, don’t mean dick to you.

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          2. Fact: The case was dropped at the orders of Attorney General Barr for purely political reasons. There is absolutely reason for the reasoning behind the dropping to be investigated fully and those responsible for political chicanery in the name of “justice” be prosecuted, or at least fired and disbarred from the legal profession.

            The politicization of the Barr Justice Department is no complete. If you are friendly with Trump, you can be assured that you can get away with anything. If you are an opponent of Trump, you will be prosecuted in federal court for jaywalking in Bangor, Maine.

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    2. “The prosecutors who dropped the case are not the ones who prosecuted it”

      Nope, and the original prosecuitors will likely be the ones going to prison.

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      1. …”original prosecuitors will likely be the ones going to prison.”

        Based on what? Doing their jobs? They are more likely to get statues in the DOJ building once Trump’s lawyer, Barr, is no longer the AG.

        Your comment seems beneath you.

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  2. Flynn is an admitted liar, worked without registration as a lobbyist for Turkey, had connections with RT, undermined a sanction by the Obama administration by telling Russian intelligence to ignore any retaliation because sanctions are going to be gone.

    He plotted a kidnapping of a man living in the US to turn over to Turkey.

    He lied to Pence.

    He lied to the judge under oath.

    What a patriot that man was. (Sarcasm alert for those that need it.)

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    2. @ Rothman.

      All of which mean precisely nothing.

      You mention six allegations against Flynn, all of them dubious as a matter of record, and only one of which is material to the charge for which he was prosecuted. You should ask yourself what kind of patriot supports the principle of guilty-until-proven-innocent.

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      1. I disagree.

        He was a pretty despicable person. His lying is a matter or record. His “acquittal” was arranged by friends in the administration.

        You are just plain wrong.

        IMHO, of course.

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    3. “He lied to the judge under oath.”

      I assume you mean by pleading guilty.

      Consider his position.

      He was broke. All his savings of a lifetime were gone to legal fees. His attorneys had told him that if he didn’t accept the deal offered, they would ask the judge to be released form the case, as he could no longer pay their fees.

      He faced the bottomless resources of the government, which had destroyed his retirement even if he were found innocent, and they had begun the process of destroying his son as well.

      It’s pretty damn easy to say he should have fought on instead of taking the plea, when you’re not the one seeing your family destroyed by bureaucrats who face no consequences for their malfeasance.

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      1. He pleaded guilty twice and then pleaded not guilty. If he was so broke, why the screwing around and lying to the court, under oath?

        If you got bested by a burglar or a thief, but his legal fees were more than he could afford, you would drop the charges I assume.

        He thumbed his nose at the FBI, the Vice President, the previous administration, and the country.

        But pick your heroes, everybody seems to do this.

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        1. Flynn does not have to be a hero for his Obama administration oppressors to be infinitely more dangerous villains

          The limitless power of the government brought against one man for corrupt purpose is a greater danger to the public than anything a private citizen could do.

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          1. And Flynn had total control the whole time. All he had to do was tell the truth.

            Then what could the “oppressors” have done?

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          2. Keep trying to prosecute him under the Logan act, as advocated by then VP Biden even though it does not apply to the incoming National Security Adviser until he is bankrupted by legal fees.

            Then he ends up not guilty but bankrupt.

            What I cannot understand his your continued defense if a prosecution carried out against the determination of the actual agents doing the interview for political purposes, under the direct control of President Obama and VP Biden.

            There is nothing Flynn could have done that endangers the country nearly so much as that kind of political weaponization of Federal Law enforcement.

            https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/biden-raised-logan-act-in-oval-office-discussion-about-flynn-peter-strzok-notes-show

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          3. Even by your own link, Biden MENTIONED the Logan Act. That is not advocating for it. It is part of the discussion. So what? You still cling to the outdated Second Amendment as if it were the Holy Bible.

            Did Flynn have “unusual”levels of talks with the Russians? Did he lie about those contacts to Pence? Did he lie to the FBI about those contacts? Did he admit he lied and then tried to take back his plea deal AFTER he changed attorneys? It was awfully late in the process. Who gave him the idea to switch to his new defense team and why? Did the lawyers in question solicit Flynn to take on his case? That is illegal, or at least unethical in the legal community in this instance. If he hadn’t switched his defense team, his legal fees MAY have been manageable. Why did he change lawyers in the middle of everything?

            You ignore those questions because you don’t think any one in Trump’s orbit is guilty of anything. Yet they appear to be on an almost daily basis.

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          4. Why do I not believe your sources? Prove that Biden and Obama gave direct orders.

            According to you Trump is not responsible for anything under his “control”, but a Obama knew every detail of what kind of soap the White House janitors used.

            I’m going to stick with the logical, non-conspiratorial version that our FBI and intelligence agencies were investigating serious Russian involvement from Wikileaks to hacking to social media posts. Then along comes Trump who has long standing financial connections with Russian oligarchs. That means gangsters and Putin. His campaign is run by a Putin man, Manafort. His son meets with Russians to get dirt from high up in the Kremlin. Another campaign staffer brags about the Wikileaks to foreigners. Stone is a point man for the Russian hacks and email leaks.

            So our security is supposed to ignore all that.

            Sorry, but that dog don’t hunt.

            Trump has a history of tax evasion, fraud, phony charities, money laundering, Mafia connections, payoffs, scams and the list goes on.

            And you blame the so called DEEP STATE. Trump is a one man Deep State trying to destroy us.

            Then along come Flynn who is going to be in charge of our highest secrets and lies about his connections to Russian intelligence.

            You are so consumed with your hatred of Democrats that you are tossing your support to a criminal. It is only because of Trump’s ignorance, narcissism and total incompetence that we are not worse off, if that is even possible.

            And outside the right wing bubble, that is the way it is, June 25, 2020.

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          5. Still trying to push that debunked Russian thing. Really? Even your FBI and Mueller teams acknowledged there was no involvement with Russian meddling and the Trump campaign.

            Direct orders? Like “Who will rid me of this bothersome priest?” Strozk’s notes tell us Obama and Biden were present when the investigators who interviewed and cleared Flynn were overruled and Biden floated using the Logan act.

            Even if Flynn failed to report the Turkey link, that is a civil, not criminal violation.

            Flynn had no connections with Russian intelligence. He spoke twice to the Russian ambassador. which as incoming NSA was his job.

            You have long ago lost touch with the way it is.

            Not even Nixon misused the power of the Executive to weaponize the DOJ

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          6. You think Russian intelligence is not tied to Russian diplomats.

            Of course Obama was apprised of an investigation. So was Trump before the inauguration.

            Some loose cannon comments by people who didn’t like Trump? Gee, that takes care of the majority of the country and the free world.

            Flynn was almost treasonous. But you will defend him.

            Fine.

            I don’t. And I do so with clarity that is not muddled with BS about “deep state”.

            The man had plotted a friggin’ kidnapping of a legal resident of our nation for Erdogan, whom he also lied about working for.

            It is not me who lost it.

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          7. If you have proof he was involved on a conspiracy to kidnap someone, provide it and he will go to prison with my full agreement, but left wing conspiracy theories are not proof.

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          9. OK, 3 years ago Flynn was investigated in relationship to the alleged plot.

            No charges were filed, much less a conviction obtained, so stating that he was involved is unsupported by anything more than conspiracy theory.

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          12. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/10/michael-flynn-trump-turkish-dissident-cleric-plot

            For some more analysis of the original WSJ report.

            https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-make-latest-story-about-flynn-and-gulen

            More angles from a Newscorp company

            https://nypost.com/2017/11/10/mueller-probing-alleged-flynn-plot-to-extradite-turkish-cleric/

            A year later, with a redacted transcript of the man charges agreed to in return for Flynn’s cooperation. Other charges were dropped.

            https://www.axios.com/michael-flynn-guilty-plea-kislyak-russia-turkey-8d185a76-980c-4d6b-8fe6-daa712b3da78.html

            Meanwhile, Flynn was writing opens about the cleric and being paid to do so by Turkey.

            https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/for-first-time-publicly-mueller-nods-to-cleric-flynn-allegedly-plotted-to-remove

            “The defendant’s false statements impeded the ability of the public to learn about the Republic of Turkey’s efforts to influence public opinion about the failed coup, including its efforts to effectuate the removal of a person legally residing in the United States,” Mueller’s filing said.

            In the weeks before Flynn and Mueller’s plea deal was unveiled, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mueller was investigating Flynn’s role in an alleged scheme to “forcibly remove” Gulen from the U.S. and turn him over to the Turkish government. Turkish representatives were offering Flynn and his son Michael Flynn Jr., who works with the retired general at his consulting firm, up to $15 million under the the alleged proposal, the Wall Street Journal https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/for-first-time-publicly-mueller-nods-to-cleric-flynn-allegedly-plotted-to-remove

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          14. No, but the discussions on kidnapping according to the WSJ happened separately. And apparently two meetings.

            Patriots don’t plan or discuss kidnapping legal residents and send them to foreign countries. run by autocrats. Especially in the position of being the NSA.

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          15. Was Flynn the NSA at that time?

            Can you conspire to a crime that did not occur? Do you know that Flynn did not STOP the idea of kidnapping the cleric, or is he guilty of anything and everything we don’t know for sure he didn’t do?

            Can we be certain he didn’t kidnap the Lindburgh baby?

            You are becoming detached from reality.

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          16. “Can you conspire to a crime that did not occur?”

            Yes. Even if the crime did not occur, the planning of a crime is defined as conspiracy. In the Federal system, the mandatory minimum is around 10 years.

            If one person knows, it is a secret. If two people know, it is a conspiracy.

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          17. …”Biden floated using the Logan act.”

            I thought he “advocated” for it. Your story is starting to change as much as Trump’s own administration trying to clean up one of his messes.

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          19. …”Obama administration oppressors “…

            Factless rant that is not based on anything but your complete and total hatred for all things Obama

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        2. “If you got bested by a burglar or a thief, but his legal fees were more than he could afford, you would drop the charges I assume.” That’s your reply. Wow, just wow.

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          3. “Disappointed”?

            Why? Don keeps bringing up legal fees by a defendant as an excuse to drop felony charges by prosecutors.

            All Flynn had to do was tell the FBI that he did discuss sanctions with a Russian diplomat, and that he did lobby for a foreign government without registration. That all came out eventually. No big deal. Why lie?

            “Oh what webs we weave…”.

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      2. That rant is older that Whitewater. Leave it alone already.

        Prove malfeasance. Go ahead. Prove that the prosecutors were outside the norms of prosecutions. The only malfeasance is that of Barr’s flunkies who undermined their predecessors at the behest of Barr.

        Barr should be facing impeachment proceedings at this point. But like Trump, the GOP led Senate won’t step up and do their g-d jobs.

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