I'm not going to mince my words: this is corruption in action.
Gen Michael Flynn was one of the earliest casualties of the Trump investigation, who lied to the FBI and pleaded guilty. Sentencing, however, was delayed. Flynn hired new layers in 2019, who tried a different tack of aggressively trying to free their client and withdrawing the guilty plea. There were two main claims: firstly "outrageous government conduct", which apparently normally applies when te government commits or incites or the crime. The second more credible reason is if the defendant can claim a "fair and just" reason to do so, which apparently is under some sort claim that his prior layers screwed up... which is I guess possible. What is noticeable, however, is that at no point is Flynn really trying to argue that he didn't lie to the FBI.
It was long thought Trump would merely pardon him, which is basically corrupt, but legal. However, instead, ubercrony extraordinaire Bill Barr has decided to simply drop the case. The prosecutor of the case has quit it, strongly implying he disagrees with his department.
This comes following the publication of emails from the FBI discussing how to handle Flynn, and the long and short of it seems to be some sort of argument that the FBI didn't have sufficient grounds to investigate him. And I've got to say, this sounds to me like the most amazing bollocks imaginable, because the police have no problem stopping people on the streets and investigating them for being black and they don't get thrown out of court.
Who watches the watchmen? Apparently, nobody. The executive is giving itself the total right to oversee investigations of itself and clear whoever it likes at whim. At the same time it's shutting down independent inspector generals who scrutinise the executive, blocking congressional scrutiny and more. Come on, who is fucking kidding? This is banana republic level stuff. Who gives a fuck how dodgy you are and what you did wrong? If you did it for the president, you get off, apparently.
Gen Michael Flynn was one of the earliest casualties of the Trump investigation, who lied to the FBI and pleaded guilty. Sentencing, however, was delayed. Flynn hired new layers in 2019, who tried a different tack of aggressively trying to free their client and withdrawing the guilty plea. There were two main claims: firstly "outrageous government conduct", which apparently normally applies when te government commits or incites or the crime. The second more credible reason is if the defendant can claim a "fair and just" reason to do so, which apparently is under some sort claim that his prior layers screwed up... which is I guess possible. What is noticeable, however, is that at no point is Flynn really trying to argue that he didn't lie to the FBI.
It was long thought Trump would merely pardon him, which is basically corrupt, but legal. However, instead, ubercrony extraordinaire Bill Barr has decided to simply drop the case. The prosecutor of the case has quit it, strongly implying he disagrees with his department.
This comes following the publication of emails from the FBI discussing how to handle Flynn, and the long and short of it seems to be some sort of argument that the FBI didn't have sufficient grounds to investigate him. And I've got to say, this sounds to me like the most amazing bollocks imaginable, because the police have no problem stopping people on the streets and investigating them for being black and they don't get thrown out of court.
Who watches the watchmen? Apparently, nobody. The executive is giving itself the total right to oversee investigations of itself and clear whoever it likes at whim. At the same time it's shutting down independent inspector generals who scrutinise the executive, blocking congressional scrutiny and more. Come on, who is fucking kidding? This is banana republic level stuff. Who gives a fuck how dodgy you are and what you did wrong? If you did it for the president, you get off, apparently.