Appeals Court Won’t Order Flynn Dismissal, Returns Case to Lower Court

A federal appeals court in Washington declined Monday to order the dismissal of the Michael Flynn prosecution, permitting a judge to scrutinize the Justice Department’s request to dismiss its case against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser.

The decision keeps the case at least temporarily alive and rebuffs efforts by both Flynn’s lawyers and the Justice Department to force the prosecution to be dropped without any further inquiry from the judge, who has for months declined to dismiss it. The ruling represents the latest development in a criminal case that has taken unusual twists and turns over the last year and prompted a separation of powers tussle involving a veteran federal judge and the Trump administration.

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Dave Yost Files Brief on Behalf of 15 Republican State AGs That Support the Federal Government’s Dropping Its Case Against Michael Flynn

Attorney General Dave Yost led an effort of 15 Republican state attorneys general to file an amicus brief Monday that supports the federal government’s position of dismissing its case against Gen. Michael Flynn.

In early May, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped all charges against the former National Security Advisor.

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Judge in Michael Flynn Case Isn’t Tossing Charges Just Yet

The federal judge handling the case against Michael Flynn signaled Tuesday he is not yet ready to grant the Justice Department’s request to throw out charges against the former national security adviser.

Emmet G. Sullivan, a district judge in Washington, D.C., said that he will allow for the submission of amicus curiae briefs, in which individuals and organizations who did not take part in the case can argue for or against the Justice Department’s request to withdraw charges against Flynn.

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Michael Flynn Sentencing Delayed

A U.S. judge in Washington on Tuesday sternly rebuked President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, for lying to investigators about his contacts with Russia in the weeks before Trump assumed power in early 2017, but delayed his sentencing. “I can’t hide my disgust, my disdain,” U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said of Flynn’s behavior, before later acceding to a request by Flynn’s lawyers to postpone his sentencing. Flynn acknowledged to Sullivan, “I was aware,” that it was a crime to lie to interrogators when they asked him about his discussions with Russia’s then-ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak. The judge told Flynn that his offense was “very serious” and that “arguably, you sold your country out.” Special counsel Robert Mueller had recommended the 60-year-old Flynn, a retired Army general and once head of the country’s Defense Intelligence Agency, not be sentenced to any prison time because he had provided “substantial” cooperation with prosecutors in their ongoing 19-month investigation of Trump 2016 campaign links with Russia and whether, as president, Trump obstructed justice by trying to thwart the probe. But Sullivan said he could not guarantee that Flynn will avoid a prison term when he is eventually sentenced, sometime…

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