The Justice Department's decision to drop the criminal case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn was a "corrupt and politically motivated favor," a former judge who was appointed to analyze the case said Friday in a new court filing.
John Gleeson's comments Friday include some of the sharpest rebukes of the Justice Department to date and directly accuse President Donald Trump's appointees of doing his bidding to protect Flynn merely because he is a political ally.
In the United States, Presidents do not orchestrate pressure campaigns to get the Justice Department to drop charges against defendants who have pleaded guilty -- twice, before two different judges -- and whose guilt is obvious, John Gleeson wrote.
"Yet that is exactly what has unfolded here," he added.
"The Government is trying to give special treatment to a criminal defendant because he is favored by the President," Gleeson wrote, arguing that the judge "would send an important message about the rule of law by refusing to accord special treatment to (Flynn's) perjury."
"To describe the Government's Motion to Dismiss as irregular would be a study in understatement," Gleeson wrote.
Gleeson accuses the Justice Department of invoking a "parade of false formalities" and using "straw man" arguments to protect Flynn.
Pushing back against the Justice Department's assertions that Flynn's lies weren't material to the Russia investigation, Gleeson cited the recent bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee said it investigated Flynn and other Trump aides' contacts with Russians "in order to more fully understand what Moscow sought to gain" from Team Trump.
John Gleeson's comments Friday include some of the sharpest rebukes of the Justice Department to date and directly accuse President Donald Trump's appointees of doing his bidding to protect Flynn merely because he is a political ally.
In the United States, Presidents do not orchestrate pressure campaigns to get the Justice Department to drop charges against defendants who have pleaded guilty -- twice, before two different judges -- and whose guilt is obvious, John Gleeson wrote.
"Yet that is exactly what has unfolded here," he added.
"The Government is trying to give special treatment to a criminal defendant because he is favored by the President," Gleeson wrote, arguing that the judge "would send an important message about the rule of law by refusing to accord special treatment to (Flynn's) perjury."
"To describe the Government's Motion to Dismiss as irregular would be a study in understatement," Gleeson wrote.
Gleeson accuses the Justice Department of invoking a "parade of false formalities" and using "straw man" arguments to protect Flynn.
Pushing back against the Justice Department's assertions that Flynn's lies weren't material to the Russia investigation, Gleeson cited the recent bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee said it investigated Flynn and other Trump aides' contacts with Russians "in order to more fully understand what Moscow sought to gain" from Team Trump.
