On Monday, federal D.C. District Judge Emmet Sullivan filed a response to the writ of mandamus from former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn ordering him to dismiss the charges against him — a response that had been ordered by a three-judge panel from the Court of Appeals two weeks ago.
In the response, Sullivan maintained that Attorney General William Barr's prosecutors have "not conclusively established" that they "acted properly" in moving to drop the charges against Flynn — particularly given the "unusual" refusal of several prosecutors working on the case to sign the motion to dismiss.
Sullivan also said there was "no merit" to Flynn's accusation that the court has already decided to rule against him just because he appointed retired Judge John Gleeson to oppose the DOJ's position — explaining that "someone needs to fill the adversarial gap to ensure full consideration of the issues, and a former prosecutor and federal judge is well positioned to do so."
Flynn initially pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about his correspondence with Russian officials, but subsequently claimed, with no solid evidence, that the FBI unlawfully strong-armed him into doing so. The DOJ's move to side with Flynn and drop the charges sparked outrage and suspicion that the Trump administration is playing politics with a case involving a former ally.