USA v. Flynn: Agonies Even Kafka Could Not Have Imagined

 

I will try my best to be very professional and civil and courteous and respectful in reporting this news about General Flynn’s case, but it will not be easy. I note that as a member of the Bar, I have a continuing ethical duty of respect to all Courts. I will also note that, especially in recent years considering the truly inexplicable decisions of some “Obama Judges” (Yes, Virginia, there are such things, and they have wreaked much damage since the President took office) it has been more and more difficult to maintain that respect for some members of the Judiciary who are clearly out of control.

I am similarly constrained in reporting the Monday news that Judge Sullivan has denied what appeared to be Sidney Powell’s 99-percent certain-to-be-successful motion to compel the sleazy, contemptible, ruthless, and diabolical government prosecutors to do their duty and to produce much material they’ve obviously hidden from General Flynn — material he clearly should have had before he pled guilty while represented by lawyers who, at the very least arguably, had serious conflict of interest problems.

Here is the entry of the order on the docket which, I must note, is all I have knowledge of personally at this time, as I have not read the 99-page order which accompanied it (I hope to do so shortly and will render a fuller report after that study is completed.):

ORDER as to MICHAEL T. FLYNN denying 109 Defendant’s Motion to Compel Production of Brady Material and for Order to Show Cause; 111 Defendant’s Motion to Compel and for Order to Show Cause; 112 Defendant’s Sealed Motion to Compel the Production of Brady Material and for an Order to Show Cause; 113 Defendant’s Sealed Motion for an Order to Show Cause; 124 Defendant’s Motion to Compel Production of Newly Discovered Brady Evidence. Signed by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on 12/16/2019. (lcegs3) (Entered: 12/16/2019)

If my views are not fairly clear from the words above, I have made my views known, loud and clear, both here — The Kafkaesque Persecution of Gen. Flynn — and elsewhere. It would have been hard to understand this ruling before the recent IG report of Mr. Horowitz; after the grotesqueries and downright illegal conduct revealed there, it is — trying to be professional here — quite simply incomprehensible.

If, after studying the Court’s opinion, I am persuaded I am being a bit hasty in this judgment, I will be the first to admit it, and will do so in a follow-up piece right here. However, I will say this at this point in time late on the 16th of December 2019, after seeing what our government has done to a man who served his country in uniform for over 30 years, some of them in combat, and who rose to the rank of Lt. General, and also seeing how the leaders of one of our established political parties have delivered year after year after year of now-thoroughly discredited abuse in an attempt to destroy the President, I and 63 million other Americans voted for, I am beginning to have the kind of thoughts I never thought I would have about the future of our beloved Nation.

I must wonder just how much more our institutions, designed by the greatest gathering of geniuses in history who are undoubtedly spinning in their graves at the conduct we are seeing on all sides, can withstand.

God bless America, and a special prayer that He will give General Flynn and his family the strength to survive this terrible, ongoing nightmare his own country has brought down on him.

Published in Law
This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the recommendation of Ricochet members. Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 37 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    cdor (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Jim George (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):
    Edited to add: weird that the “memorandum opinion” link on the court’s website merely takes one to a 7-page appendix, and nowhere can I find the memorandum opinion. Anyone have a better source?

    This is the link carried by techno fog on twitter–https://t.co/SsPhPTCNLh?amp=1 takes you to the entire 99 page opinion. I should note that techno fog and Margot Cleveland, who writes for The Federalist, have been invaluable resources throughout the various (painful) steps of the Flynn case. I will be looking to Prof. Cleveland for her impressions after she reads the opinion, and will definitely be reading my copy ASAP. Sincerely, Jim.

    Undercover Huber has been doubtful about whether Flynn would succeed, though he has no doubt the general was railroaded. The problem is that Flynn has twice entered a guilty plea. It will be interesting to see in light of this decision whether Flynn tries to withdraw the plea.

    This is where I am very curious. The judge asked if Flynn wanted to withdraw his guilty plea and Flynn declined. Why would Flynn do that? Was he actually guilty of lying? Does anyone know what it was that Flynn said to the FBI that was a lie? Way,way back VP Pence also accused Flynn of lying on or about Flynn’s conversations with Russians. Is it possible ( a question for our lawyers) that Judge Sullivan would have been more amenable to Flynn’s Brady request if he had changed his plea to Not Guilty?

    I think he may have been more amenable.  The whole case is a mess.  The agents who interviewed him did not think he was lying.  I understand the initial plea – Flynn was under financial stress and the Mueller gang was threatening to prosecute his son and pressured him to agree to the plea just before they knew the Strozek/Page texts would go public which was a game changer.  The second time around is harder.  It’s too bad he had such terrible and conflicted representation.

    • #31
  2. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    cdor (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Jim George (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):
    Edited to add: weird that the “memorandum opinion” link on the court’s website merely takes one to a 7-page appendix, and nowhere can I find the memorandum opinion. Anyone have a better source?

    This is the link carried by techno fog on twitter–https://t.co/SsPhPTCNLh?amp=1 takes you to the entire 99 page opinion. I should note that techno fog and Margot Cleveland, who writes for The Federalist, have been invaluable resources throughout the various (painful) steps of the Flynn case. I will be looking to Prof. Cleveland for her impressions after she reads the opinion, and will definitely be reading my copy ASAP. Sincerely, Jim.

    Undercover Huber has been doubtful about whether Flynn would succeed, though he has no doubt the general was railroaded. The problem is that Flynn has twice entered a guilty plea. It will be interesting to see in light of this decision whether Flynn tries to withdraw the plea.

    This is where I am very curious. The judge asked if Flynn wanted to withdraw his guilty plea and Flynn declined. Why would Flynn do that? Was he actually guilty of lying? Does anyone know what it was that Flynn said to the FBI that was a lie? Way,way back VP Pence also accused Flynn of lying on or about Flynn’s conversations with Russians. Is it possible ( a question for our lawyers) that Judge Sullivan would have been more amenable to Flynn’s Brady request if he had changed his plea to Not Guilty?

    I think he may have been more amenable. The whole case is a mess. The agents who interviewed him did not think he was lying. I understand the initial plea – Flynn was under financial stress and the Mueller gang was threatening to prosecute his son and pressured him to agree to the plea just before they knew the Strozek/Page texts would go public which was a game changer. The second time around is harder. It’s too bad he had such terrible and conflicted representation.

    Yea but. . .what did Flynn actually say or do that created this terrible mess of a case? I have never seen that specified. Have you Gumby?

    • #32
  3. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    cdor (View Comment):
    The judge asked if Flynn wanted to withdraw his guilty plea and Flynn declined. Why would Flynn do that?

    Probably DC juries.  One convicted the other guy in the FARA case and the judge threw out the verdict.

    • #33
  4. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    cdor (View Comment):
    The judge asked if Flynn wanted to withdraw his guilty plea and Flynn declined. Why would Flynn do that?

    Probably DC juries. One convicted the other guy in the FARA case and the judge threw out the verdict.

    cdor (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    cdor (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Jim George (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):
    Edited to add: weird that the “memorandum opinion” link on the court’s website merely takes one to a 7-page appendix, and nowhere can I find the memorandum opinion. Anyone have a better source?

    This is the link carried by techno fog on twitter–https://t.co/SsPhPTCNLh?amp=1 takes you to the entire 99 page opinion. I should note that techno fog and Margot Cleveland, who writes for The Federalist, have been invaluable resources throughout the various (painful) steps of the Flynn case. I will be looking to Prof. Cleveland for her impressions after she reads the opinion, and will definitely be reading my copy ASAP. Sincerely, Jim.

    Undercover Huber has been doubtful about whether Flynn would succeed, though he has no doubt the general was railroaded. The problem is that Flynn has twice entered a guilty plea. It will be interesting to see in light of this decision whether Flynn tries to withdraw the plea.

    This is where I am very curious. The judge asked if Flynn wanted to withdraw his guilty plea and Flynn declined. Why would Flynn do that? Was he actually guilty of lying? Does anyone know what it was that Flynn said to the FBI that was a lie? Way,way back VP Pence also accused Flynn of lying on or about Flynn’s conversations with Russians. Is it possible ( a question for our lawyers) that Judge Sullivan would have been more amenable to Flynn’s Brady request if he had changed his plea to Not Guilty?

    I think he may have been more amenable. The whole case is a mess. The agents who interviewed him did not think he was lying. I understand the initial plea – Flynn was under financial stress and the Mueller gang was threatening to prosecute his son and pressured him to agree to the plea just before they knew the Strozek/Page texts would go public which was a game changer. The second time around is harder. It’s too bad he had such terrible and conflicted representation.

    Yea but. . .what did Flynn actually say or do that created this terrible mess of a case? I have never seen that specified. Have you Gumby?

    The plea was to one count of making a false statement and it was regarding whether he discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador.  It was not illegal for him to have discussed sanctions, but he entered a guilty plea to lying about whether it was discussed to the investigators.  It’s not clear to me, from what I’m seen, that he actually did lie at, at the time, the investigators apparently didn’t think he was lying.

    The truth is the FBI, CIA and DOJ never really cared about the Russia thing regarding Flynn.  What they really wanted was a way to get him out of the Trump administration.  Flynn was that rare bird – someone who really supported Trump but was also a DC insider who knew how the bureaucracy worked and had announced his intent to do major reform of the intelligence community.  In the bureaucrat view that was an unforgiveable sin.

    • #34
  5. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    The plea was to one count of making a false statement and it was regarding whether he discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador. It was not illegal for him to have discussed sanctions, but he entered a guilty plea to lying about whether it was discussed to the investigators. It’s not clear to me, from what I’m seen, that he actually did lie at, at the time, the investigators apparently didn’t think he was lying.

    At the time of his “crime” of lying about speaking to the Russian ambassador about sanctions, Flynn was the incoming NSA chief, designated by the POTUS elect.  Isn’t it the job of an NSA chief to communicate with foreign nations, amongst other duties?

    I did a quick Google search and got this (from the Hindustan Times, of all places):

    “It is undisputed that Mr. Flynn not only made those false statements to the FBI agents, but he also made the same false statements to the vice president and senior White House officials, who, in turn, repeated Mr. Flynn’s false statements to the American people on national television,” (Judge)Sullivan said in a 92-page ruling.

    It is really difficult to understand why Flynn would make a false statement to the FBI and the Vice President concerning the nature of his conversation with the Russian, Kislyak. Nothing Flynn might have said would have been binding on POTUS. Flynn pleaded guilty almost two years ago. He could have served his 30 days and been done by now. It’s all very strange.

    • #35
  6. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    cdor (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    The plea was to one count of making a false statement and it was regarding whether he discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador. It was not illegal for him to have discussed sanctions, but he entered a guilty plea to lying about whether it was discussed to the investigators. It’s not clear to me, from what I’m seen, that he actually did lie at, at the time, the investigators apparently didn’t think he was lying.

    At the time of his “crime” of lying about speaking to the Russian ambassador about sanctions, Flynn was the incoming NSA chief, designated by the POTUS elect. Isn’t it the job of an NSA chief to communicate with foreign nations, amongst other duties?

    I did a quick Google search and got this (from the Hindustan Times, of all places):

    “It is undisputed that Mr. Flynn not only made those false statements to the FBI agents, but he also made the same false statements to the vice president and senior White House officials, who, in turn, repeated Mr. Flynn’s false statements to the American people on national television,” (Judge)Sullivan said in a 92-page ruling.

    It is really difficult to understand why Flynn would make a false statement to the FBI and the Vice President concerning the nature of his conversation with the Russian, Kislyak. Nothing Flynn might have said would have been binding on POTUS. Flynn pleaded guilty almost two years ago. He could have served his 30 days and been done by now. It’s all very strange.

    But the FBI agents thought he wasn’t “lying” …

    I don’t remember exactly what the “lie” was ) if I ever knew. Is it possible he simply misspoke after dozens of calls to leaders?

    Also- how did they know if lied? I seem to remember that might have indicated someone was listening on the call that shouldn’t have been. 

    • #36
  7. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Annefy (View Comment):

    cdor (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    The plea was to one count of making a false statement and it was regarding whether he discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador. It was not illegal for him to have discussed sanctions, but he entered a guilty plea to lying about whether it was discussed to the investigators. It’s not clear to me, from what I’m seen, that he actually did lie at, at the time, the investigators apparently didn’t think he was lying.

    At the time of his “crime” of lying about speaking to the Russian ambassador about sanctions, Flynn was the incoming NSA chief, designated by the POTUS elect. Isn’t it the job of an NSA chief to communicate with foreign nations, amongst other duties?

    I did a quick Google search and got this (from the Hindustan Times, of all places):

    “It is undisputed that Mr. Flynn not only made those false statements to the FBI agents, but he also made the same false statements to the vice president and senior White House officials, who, in turn, repeated Mr. Flynn’s false statements to the American people on national television,” (Judge)Sullivan said in a 92-page ruling.

    It is really difficult to understand why Flynn would make a false statement to the FBI and the Vice President concerning the nature of his conversation with the Russian, Kislyak. Nothing Flynn might have said would have been binding on POTUS. Flynn pleaded guilty almost two years ago. He could have served his 30 days and been done by now. It’s all very strange.

    But the FBI agents thought he wasn’t “lying” …

    I don’t remember exactly what the “lie” was ) if I ever knew. Is it possible he simply misspoke after dozens of calls to leaders?

    Also- how did they know if lied? I seem to remember that might have indicated someone was listening on the call that shouldn’t have been.

    @annefy, with all the NSA unmasking, it is highly likely that his conversation was listened to and recorded, especially with Kislyak. It is also unfathomable that Flynn didn’t know any conversation he had with Kislyak would be recorded. But Flynn pleaded guilty and then re-uped on his guilty plea. Now we have a skirmish between Judge Sullivan and Flynn’s new lawyer, Sydney Powell. I hate to see this. So now we have Manafort, Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, Flynn, and Roger Stone all convicted of some crime as a result of Mueller investigation. I am still waiting for all the criminals that illegally predicated the investigation to pay their dues as well.

    • #37
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.