One Angry American
Judge Emmet Sullivan of the Federal District Court in the District of Columbia is an angry man. Sullivan, the judge presiding over the Michael Flynn case, was supposed to sentence Flynn as part of a plea bargain agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office. It was a “sweetheart deal;” Flynn pled guilty to one count of lying to FBI agents, the rest of his many (many) potential crimes were wiped away, and he was liable to serve up to six month in jail. The Mueller team recommended zero time based on the amount of cooperation Flynn gave them.
In attempting to further mitigate any possible jail sentence, Flynn’s attorneys posited that the General had been “set up” by the FBI during questioning. They suggested that Flynn was not warned of his right to an attorney, and that the questioning was what Rudy Giuliani would call a “perjury trap” (note: the way to avoid any perjury trap; don’t lie.) they also claimed that two of the three FBI personnel that were involved with the Flynn questioning, Deputy Assistant Director for Counter-Intelligence Peter Strzok and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, were involved in some other improprieties that raised questions about their actions.
Part of any plea bargain is the defendant accepting responsibility for the offenses. Flynn had done so, pleading guilty to lying to the FBI. But now, his attorneys seemed to be raising questions about the validity of that plea. Judge Sullivan’s primary job in a courtroom is to make sure that justice is served. If Flynn wasn’t guilty, then Sullivan couldn’t allow him to take the plea.
So Sullivan swore Flynn in, and placed him under penalty of perjury: if he didn’t tell the truth it could be a five year maximum sentence. Sullivan asked him if he felt he was “set up” by the FBI. Flynn said no. Sullivan asked him if he knew it was against the law to lie to the FBI. Flynn, at the time National Security Advisor, a three-star general and former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said he did. Sullivan asked Flynn if he felt the FBI personnel involved were in some way biased against him. Flynn said no.
Flynn took full responsibility for his lies to the FBI. He should have; he must have known that the FBI had transcripts of his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The phones of Russian officials in the United States are routinely tapped, he would have seen similar transcripts as the DIA director. From the transcripts of the FBI interview, we know that the agents quoted verbatim from the conversation. Inexplicably, Flynn continued to lie about it.
Judge Sullivan was assured that Flynn was accepting responsibility for his actions. But the Judge had been given access to all of the unredacted information given to him by the Mueller team. He also was made aware of an indictment filed the day before in Alexandria, Virginia, where Flynn was an unindicted co-conspirator. If that indictment was charged to Flynn, he would be subject to years in Federal prison.
Flynn was a good general gone bad. He was fired by President Obama from the Defense Intelligence Agency job, then retired from the military. He immediately moved to monetize his skills and experiences, and soon made deals with the Turkish government. Ultimately he was acting as an unregistered agent for Turkey, representing their interest in trying to gain custody of Fethullah Gulen, a US resident who was the longtime antagonist of Turkish President Erdogan. That representation may have continued while he was serving as National Security Advisor.
He also had contacts with Russia, including making paid speeches in Russia and literally sitting at the right hand of Vladimir Putin. His Russian connections ultimately led the FBI to him, as one of the four “persons of interest” in the original investigation of Russian contacts with the Trump campaign.
Judge Sullivan saw all of this, and much more in the unredacted Special Counsel Report. He recognized the obvious: a man who had dedicated himself to service of the United States was now serving other nations while taking one of the highest national security jobs in our government. Sullivan reached a reasonable conclusion: Flynn was an agent of foreign powers while acting as the President’s chief advisor.
Sullivan was clearly outraged. He stated that Flynn “…sold his country out.” He asked if Flynn could have been charged with treason. He made it very clear, that regardless of the “deal” made with the Special Counsel, he was seriously considering putting Flynn in prison. He even intimated that the sentence might be longer than the “sentencing guidelines,” and suggested to Flynn that, “…the more you assist the government, the more you help yourself.”
The Defense accepted a recess, and then asked for a delay in sentencing. Judge Sullivan pushed the hearing into March. And, probably, he will then be more convinced of reasons for giving Flynn a deal. But Sullivan was expressing what many Americans feel: that this General has disgraced the uniform he served, and abandoned the flag he honored. Sullivan made it clear that Flynn was getting off far too easy for the crimes he committed.
We don’t know what Flynn has told the Mueller Team. Perhaps his testimony is so significant, that it is worth the “cost” of giving him a pass. But Judge Sullivan didn’t think so, and he might not be wrong: Mueller is going to have to really prove it’s worth it, or Flynn’s going to jail. It’s where he belongs.
