Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn isn't quite off the hook yet.
While the Department of Justice has tried to dismiss charges of lying to the FBI against the retired general after a review of his case, the decision is still up to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan. So Sullivan tapped former federal judge John Gleeson to analyze the case and provide a friend of the court brief, and in Gleeson's view, Flynn should still be charged and sentenced.
Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to charges of lying to the FBI, but earlier this year, said he wanted to withdraw his plea because he was pressured into giving it. The DOJ sided with Flynn, saying it would move to drop his charges after agreeing the FBI tried to entrap the former national security adviser.
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But Gleeson disagreed in his amicus brief filed Wednesday, calling the Justice Department's attempt to drop the charges "gross prosecutorial abuse." It's all "an unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President Trump," Gleeson continued. While there is "ample" evidence Flynn committed perjury by saying he lied in his initial guilty plea, Gleeson recommends Flynn be sentenced on his original charge of lying to the FBI.
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