Mueller's probe investigated ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. "No doubt there will be some who will describe the court's decision today in such terms, but they would be mistaken," he added.įlynn was the only person charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation who had been a White House official. "In cases that attract public attention, it is common for pundits and politicians to frame their commentary in a way that reduces the judicial process to little more than a skirmish in a partisan battle," Griffith wrote in his opinion. Bush and is retiring after Monday, advised that this ruling should not be taken as a political statement. Judge Thomas Griffith, who was appointed to the court by President George W. “We have no trouble answering that question in the negative,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion for the eight judges in the majority. His lawyers then sought to bypass Sullivan and obtain a order from the federal appeals court that would have required the judge to immediately force the judge to dismiss the case.Īt issue before the court was not the merits of the Flynn prosecution but rather whether Sullivan could be forced to grant the Justice Department's dismissal request without even holding a hearing to scrutinize the basis for the motion. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, signaling his skepticism at the government's motion, refused to immediately grant the request and instead appointed a retired federal judge to argue against the Justice Department's position. He was awaiting sentencing when the government asked to dismiss the case.īut U.S. The decision keeps the matter at least temporarily alive and rejects efforts by both Flynn's lawyers and the Justice Department to force the prosecution to be dropped without any further inquiry from the judge, who has months declined to dismiss it.įederal prosecutors moved in May to dismiss the prosecution even though Flynn had pleaded guilty and admitted lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation about his Russian contacts during the presidential transition period.
![motion to dismiss flynn motion to dismiss flynn](https://cdn.uslegal.com/uslegal-preview/US/US-02698BG/2.png)
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-2 to deny Flynn's petition to have the case immediately dismissed. The appeals court also denied a motion to reassign the case to another judge.Flynn pleaded guilty and admitted lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation.The Justice Department requested the case be dropped in May.
![motion to dismiss flynn motion to dismiss flynn](https://cdn.uslegal.com/uslegal-preview/TX/TX-CC-38-05/1.png)
![motion to dismiss flynn motion to dismiss flynn](https://www.signnow.com/preview/497/308/497308769/large.png)