Gen. Michael Flynn Case Completely Dismissed by Judge Emmet Sullivan After Pardon By Trump

Last month, President Trump announced that Gen. Michael Flynn received a “full pardon” in his case before the court, stemming from 2017 charges of lying to FBI agents about the content of presidential transition calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

After Judge Emmet Sullivan appeared to give a long list of outside groups who previously weighed in on the Justice Department’s motion to drop the case against retired Gen. Flynn permission to submit briefs again, it appeared that he might stall on dismissing the case.

Today, however, the situation was resolved as Judge Sullivan issued a one-page document which said that the case is “dismissed as moot.”

Trump congratulated Gen. Flynn, tweeting out, “Thank you and congratulations to General Flynn. He and his incredible family have suffered greatly!”

Thank you and congratulations to General Flynn. He and his incredible family have suffered greatly! https://t.co/UjH6LVuON8

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2020

Throwing a bone to critics on the way out Judge Sullivan said that the circumstances of the DOJ’s effort to dismiss the Flynn case were so unusual that it would likely have overcome “the strong presumption of regularity that usually attaches to prosecutorial decisions.”

WOW: Sullivan says the circumstances of DOJ’s effort to dismiss the Flynn case were so unusual that it would likely have overcome “the strong presumption of regularity” that attaches to DOJ decisions pic.twitter.com/g7qCtMWLGX

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 8, 2020

“Whether or not the FBI agents thought Flynn was lying is irrelevant in a false statements case,” Judge Sullivan continued.

Judge Sullivan added that the he didn’t believe the government had sufficiently stated how “consistent and clear” became “equivocal” or “indirect.”

Apparently also not understanding how pardons work, Judge Sullivan made sure to emphasize that Gen. Flynn’s acceptance of a pardon does not confer innocence upon him.

SULLIVAN emphasizes that Flynn’s acceptance of a pardon does not confer innocence upon him. pic.twitter.com/NkG0t16TOo

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 8, 2020

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich recently wrote an op-ed where he said that he believes Gen. Flynn was the victim of a political hatchet job and that he was attacked for daring to buck the establishment system and support President Trump and America First policies.