On Thursday, the Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court to drop its case against retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Judge Emmett Sullivan will presumably rule on the matter expeditiously.
The case was for one count of making a false statement to the FBI, a process crime created by the FBI’s ambush interview of Flynn on 24 January 2017. One of the interviewing agents (apparently Joe Pientka) noted at the time that Flynn showed no deception or lack of candor in the interview. FBI records indicate that the interview documents were later manipulated, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller ultimately brought a case against Flynn. Flynn took a plea on 1 December 2017, reportedly to forestall a threat being made by the Mueller team against his son, who had also been his business partner in the Flynn Intel Group firm.
Flynn lost his home and his life savings in the protracted court battle. In the spring of 2019 he changed legal representatives, believing his original team had not zealously defended his interests. Sidney Powell became his new attorney. Over a period of months, in spite of clashes with the presiding judge, she forced more and more “Brady” material — evidence exculpatory for Flynn — out of the DOJ. Flynn decided to move to withdraw his plea as it became increasingly clear that the DOJ could not win its case against him.
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In January, Attorney General William Barr assigned the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri to review all the DOJ documents in the Flynn case. In the last 10 days, the Barr DOJ, through the EDMO, has finally begun releasing Brady material the Department had long held onto, despite repeated formal demands from the Flynn defense. Much of the material is profoundly shocking in what it indicates about behavior at the FBI and DOJ.
It now appears, according to Fox News, that the release of DOJ documents began at the time that Attorney Jeff Jensen of the EDMO recommended in a letter to Barr that the charge be dropped against Flynn. Jensen forwarded that letter last week.
Just one observation at this point. Left to its own devices, the DOJ would probably never have brought a case against Flynn. The original FBI records indicated no conclusion that there was wrongdoing by Flynn, on any matter (i.e., Flynn’s phone calls with the Russian ambassador, his interview on 24 January 2017). It took the appointment of a special counsel months later, which then proceeded to operate independently of normal procedure in the DOJ and FBI, to manufacture something to harass, intimidate, and defame Flynn with.
The special counsel has been universally pernicious in this whole situation: Flynn, Russiagate, Spygate. It has served to poison everything it has touched. Congress needs to take that for action; we can never do this again.
Congratulations and a big thank you from America to Sidney Powell and her team. I rejoice with Michael Flynn and his family, and pray for the speedy recovery of their lives and livelihoods. May God bless them; may He make their righteous reward shine like the dawn, their vindication like the noonday sun. (Psalm 37:6)
