Appeals Court Orders Judge To Dismiss Case Against Michael Flynn

Michael Flynn (photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

From the New York Times:

A divided federal appeals court panel ordered an immediate end on Wednesday to the case against Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser — delivering a major victory to Mr. Flynn and to the Justice Department, which had sought to drop the case.

In the ruling, two of three judges on a panel for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the trial judge overseeing the matter, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, to immediately dismiss the case without further review. The third accused his colleagues of “grievously” overstepping their powers, and the full appeals court has the option of reviewing the matter.

The order — a so-called writ of mandamus — was rare and came as a surprise, taking its place as yet another twist in the extraordinary legal and political drama surrounding the prosecution of Mr. Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to F.B.I. agents in the Russia investigation about his conversations in December 2016 with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

Trump fired Flynn in early 2017 for lying to Vice President Pence and other colleagues about what he and the Russian ambassador discussed in December 2016.

Flynn then agreed to cooperate with the investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and plead guilty to one count of making a false statement when F.B.I. agents had questioned him about the conversations.

But after pleading guilty, he reversed course last year and sought to withdraw his guilty plea.