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Shot Fired Across the Bow
Actually, I think into the bow.
I have commented several times that the book License to Lie by Sidney Powell is a good description of the thuggish tactics used by some (boy, I sure hope it is only some) prosecutors in the Justice Department. A month or so ago when General Flynn fired his existing lawyers and hired Sidney, I thought that was a very good sign
She is going right for prosecutorial misconduct and undue pressure to force Gen. Flynn to plead guilty. (There is some evidence that his existing defense did not do a very good job supporting him). There have been several different motions before the Judge, but yesterday, she filed a brief with the court.* I am not a lawyer (and please correct me if I am misinterpreting anything) and don’t usually read legal briefs, but this one is fascinating.
She is really firing on all cylinders and naming names. After all, she literally wrote the book on misconduct by prosecutors. This is particularly fascinating if you know the various names. If you don’t, her book is a good introduction to some of the participants, but doesn’t include the current situation. The book Ball of Collusion by Andrew McCarthy, which I am reading now, does cover it.
For those who don’t know the names, here are some of the more important:
- Brady Rule – The rule that the prosecution must turn over to the defense all material that they have that could exonerate the defendant. Violation of that rule is a major part of this brief.
- 302 – the form number for notes of FBI interviews (or interrogations) of witnesses. These are part of what Powell is trying to get full access to.
- Judge Sullivan – This is the Judge in the Flynn cast. Interestingly, he was also the Judge in the case against Sen. Stevens of Alaska. A major aspect of this trial is that the prosecution violated the Brady rule and the case was thrown out (After Stevens had lost his re-election bid) . When Judge Sullivan tried to have the prosecutors punished, they were let off because they claimed that they hadn’t been told explicitly by the Judge to follow the Brady rule (What ? Lawyers should follow the rules?) Because of this, Sullivan now starts each trial with a specific admonition to follow the Brady Rule
- Andrew Weissmann – One of the members of the Mueller team who directed the prosecution of Gen Flynn. Interestingly enough, he also led the prosecution of Senator Sevens and also plays a part in several other of the bad prosecutions in Powell’s book.
- Bruce and Nellie Ohr, Peter Strzok, Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele, Stefan Halper, James Comey – Well, if you don’t know these names, this brief will probably not be of interest But it is amazing how many of these names keep popping up when the government is doing bad things.
This is going to get interesting.
* (Link to PDF – it is only 16 pages long) https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/1672-michael-flynn-brady-request/5c90549d0b9ae439931b/optimized/full.pdf
Published in Law
I certainly hope it gets interesting, and I’d also like to see some prosecuting and firings. If none happen, it’s just proof that all those rules in the books really don’t mean anything, and could lead one to believe that the administrative state is not afraid of their political masters.
I find it fascinating that Comey, et. al, thought to (and admits to) taking advantage of the naive trust Trump had in the FBI to set a perjury trap for Flynn in week 1. We have a system, where an elected president is a fool for trusting the head of the FBI. Comey needs a public flogging–long and hard.
It is interesting that there are 16 likes, but only 2 comments so far. I don’t think I’ve seen that before. What does it mean? You liked it and are off to read the PDF? I hope so
Generally it indicates a lot of agreement with the post, and not much to add. At least that’s how I’d interpret it.
It is interesting that the DOJ is slow-walking document production because Sidney has not yet been granted a security clearance. Now, recall that the process for obtaining a security clearance at the level possibly involved with these documents is a full field background investigation to develop whether or not “adverse information” exists about the individual that may reflect on their trustworthiness or loyalty. And yet the documents being sought involve the conduct of persons with security clearances that had to be renewed every five years with a background investigation and yet Sidney Powell’s documentation of Weissman’s untrustworthiness seems not to have made a dent in his clearance. Two systems of justice, indeed.
I am still very confused by the “Trump” DOJ. Apparently they are not granting Sydney Powell security clearance. Of course, the documents Powell wishes to examine are marked “classified” by the same group of people she is battling for Flynn’s release. This is real USSR/banana republic tactic. I gotta say, this entire experience with the FBI, DOJ, and our intelligence agencies doing battle against our elected President is something I have never seen before.
I get the feeling it’s just been kept out of sight before.
The best thing about the Presidency of Donald Trump (I like saying that) is that he’s driven so much of the left to expose itself.
It’s still very much the Obama/Holder/Lynch DOJ. Eight years of the most corrupt administration in our history did more damage than to our nation and its institutions than we’ll ever know.
If there is a knock on Trump it is that he did not fully comprehend the wrecking crew he needed to assemble in Washington. He chose poorly some of the people because he knew about the out and out money-changing in Congress, but didn’t fully comprehend the black market of loyalty in the Administration.
What he should have done then, and maybe should do now, is get a list of every whistleblower in the last two decades and assemble a conference of them to hear the stories. Not all whistleblowers will share Trump’s philosophy, and not all whistleblowers will be justified. But the process would be instructive.
He really needs to run in 202o on completing the 2016 promises and rooting out corruption in the Administration.
Seems like the solution is to have someone (Barr?) who is cleared to go through these documents and review the level of classification they were given. I bet they are all over classified.
I won’t hold my breath that anyone will go to jail.
At least now we finally have someone taking it to the Deep State FBI and DOJ. By prying open the door and hopefully exposing the massive wrongdoing, hopefully Sidney will force AG Barr to finally bring the hammer down on Comey, Rosenstein, Brennan et al.
If you did, we could call you “Blue Skyler”