The Senate leader’s broadside accuses Judge Sullivan of ‘browsing’ for parties to oppose dismissals of charges against the former Trump adviser.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell launched a broadside Tuesday at a federal judge for seeking a second opinion of sorts on Attorney General William Barr’s attempt to abandon the Justice Department’s prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
McConnell said the move by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan was the latest example of aides and advisers to President Donald Trump being treated unfairly in the U.S. legal system.
“As if this debacle needed even more shocking behavior, I understand a federal judge may try to continue prosecuting one of these cases, even though the prosecution itself wants to drop it,” McConnell said in a floor speech. “The judge has taken it upon himself to go browsing for other hostile parties. Obviously, that subverts our constitutional order in which the executive alone decides whether to prosecute cases.”
Barr’s decision earlier this month to seek to drop the Flynn case prompted one career prosecutor to withdraw from the case and led to complaints from more than 2,000 former Justice officials that political influence was interfering in the handling of criminal prosecutions.
While prosecutors sometimes decide not to take a contested case to trial, Barr’s move to abandon the prosecution of Flynn was highly unusual because he had already pleaded guilty to a false statement charge brought by special counsel Robert Mueller back in 2017. Flynn reaffirmed his plea in front of Sullivan the following year.
Flynn’s lawyers hailed the decision to drop the case and, in a bid to clear the way for its dismissal, quickly withdrew pending legal motions alleging a wide range of misconduct by prosecutors.
However, Sullivan rebuffed the defense’s call to immediately conclude the case. Instead, he said he’d entertain friend-of-the-court submissions about what he should do. In addition, he tapped a former federal judge in New York — John Gleeson — as a court-appointed amicus to advise him on next steps.
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McConnell’s remarks Tuesday dovetailed with an ongoing effort by Trump and his allies to accuse senior officials in President Barack Obama’s administration, including Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, of unspecified crimes in connection with efforts to investigate alleged ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.
“Certainly, you would think the outgoing Obama administration should only have used the awesome power of the federal government to pry into their political rivals if they had a slam-dunk basis for doing so. But that is not what they had,” the majority leader said.
McConnell’s comments come after the president urged the Senate leader to embrace his accusations against the Obama administration.
“Time is running out. Get tough and move quickly, or it will be too late. The Dems are vicious, but got caught,” Trump tweeted over the weekend. “They MUST pay a big price for what they have done to our Country. Don’t let them get away with this!”
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell launched a broadside at a federal judge for seeking a second opinion of sorts on AG William Barr’s attempt to abandon the DOJ’s prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn https://t.co/GqBEgg2u5E
— POLITICO (@politico) May 19, 2020
They better hope the Circuit agrees or they just angered Sullivan for no good reason. I remained of the view until now that Sullivan was just doing his due diligence and holding everyone’s feet to the fire given the clear political interference.
Now? Yeesh. https://t.co/2vcRKcZVTQ
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) May 19, 2020
He's not panicked yet.
He will be soon. https://t.co/85nEhB7Tow
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 20, 2020
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