A lone judge might do what Congress could not: Hold President Trump accountable
The Trump administration which has made a signature achievement of eluding accountability for all manner of lawless and corrupt conduct is headed for a high-stakes showdown with a federal judge who has some very powerful cards to play.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan presides over the case of President Trumps fired national security advisor Michael Flynn. Sullivan has signaled that he is, at a minimum, skeptical about the motion from the Department of Justice to dismiss the charges against Flynn, who has twice pleaded guilty to lying to federal officers about his contacts with Russian officials.
And no wonder Sullivan has doubts. The motion to dismiss was a naked political move and a betrayal of the Justice Departments solemn obligation to pursue impartial justice. It has drawn outrage from almost all legal quarters, including from more than 2,000 former DOJ prosecutors who signed a letter saying the motion assaulted the rule of law.
Sullivan has already responded to the motion with a strong countermove that shows he is not going to permit the dismissal without at least a hard look at the law and the facts. He has appointed a highly respected former federal judge, John Gleeson, to step in and argue against it in a friend of the court brief due June 10.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-21/michael-flynn-emmet-sullivan-william-barr-donald-trump-justice-department
sfstaxprep
(9,998 posts)But it's getting kind of old playing the part of Charlie Brown trying to kick the football.
I'm not going to hold my breath that anything will come of this. Besides, in the end, Drumpf will just pardon him. I don't see why he's so worried, he's not going to lose 1 member of his base over it.
Skittles
(153,150 posts)Dan
(3,550 posts)With Mueller, they sent a Marine when they should have sent an assassin.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)Give trump absolute power , then he goes after all of them for his more corrupt replacements that'll continue to do whatever he demands them to do, and decide in his favor or become another replacement with trumped up charges. He's desperate to get power over them all to keep from being exposed. They'll just appeal anything he does to sentence Flynn, then try to hurt him for it as an example to scare others with it .