New trouble for Michael Flynn – and it’s coming from a federal judge
So here’s a new twist which no one saw coming, but is remarkably fitting. When Michael Flynn cut a plea deal awhile back, he was supposed to testify that his former business partner Bijan Rafiekian had been acting as an illegal agent of the government of Turkey. When Flynn broke his plea deal, the government had to try Rafiekian without Flynn’s testimony. And while it did get a conviction, it was later thrown out.
The courts have been arguing with each other for awhile as to whether Rafiekian’s conviction should be reinstated or whether he’s entitled to a new trial. But now a judge has (apparently) definitively ruled that Rafiekian is indeed entitled to a new trial. His reasoning? The judge says there’s stronger evidence that if anyone was acting as a paid foreign agent of Turkey, it was Flynn.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump pardoned Michael Flynn for a number of crimes. But pardons of co-conspirators can be challenged in court. And for that matter, blanket pardons – like the one Flynn received – can be chipped away at on the grounds of being too broad. For that matter, Flynn’s pardon doesn’t apply to things that happened after it was granted, such as January 6th.
We’ve long suspected that the DOJ is building a new criminal case against Michael Flynn, for the charges he wasn’t pardoned on, or wasn’t properly pardoned on. Why wouldn’t the DOJ be building such a case? But with a federal judge now putting the spotlight directly on Flynn’s criminality, it’ll certainly make it easier for the DOJ to justify bringing new charges against Flynn – and make it a lot harder for the DOJ not to bring new charges against him.
