Judge pushes back against Michael Flynn dismissal request

| 7:30 pm EDT May 12, 2020
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When Donald Trump and Bill Barr forced the DOJ to withdraw its criminal case against Michael Flynn, it seemed like an awful lot of corrupt effort for something that wasn’t going to gain Trump a single vote in the 2020 election anyway. Further, it seemed like an awfully timid attempt at corruption, as the judge still makes the final call, not the DOJ.

Now the judge in the case is already pushing back against the attempted dismissal. In what NBC News legal expert Tom Winter is characterizing as an “unusual move,” Judge Emmet Sullivan has decided to allow outsiders to file amicus curiae briefs in the Michael Flynn case. This allows pretty much anyone – legal experts, the media, former DOJ people who have been fired by Trump and Barr – to weigh in on Flynn’s guilt and sentencing.

Legal experts agree that Judge Sullivan can refuse to allow the DOJ to withdraw the case, but they’ve shared differing opinions as to whether Sullivan can actually send Flynn to prison. That’s because prosecutors withdrawing a case, after the defendant has pleaded guilty, is something that basically never happens.

Palmer Report’s take is that the judge is seeking the opinions of outside experts who think Michael Flynn is guilty, because the judge is looking for a legal basis upon which to sentence Flynn to prison that doesn’t rely on the now-withdrawn DOJ case. If Flynn is sentenced to prison, we’ll see if Trump makes the highly foolish decision to try to pardon him. The judge could also simply drag out the case until after the election, and then let the next iteration of the DOJ file a new case against Flynn after Trump is gone.