Prosecutors urge judge to reject ‘fishing expedition’ by Flynn’s defense
Flynn's lawyers are seeking information to back up a wide range of allegations against Robert Mueller’s office and the FBI.
By JOSH GERSTEIN
10/01/2019 02:06 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/01/prosecutors-urge-judge-to-reject-fishing-expedition-by-flynns-defense-015013
https://archive.is/RshiD
Federal prosecutors are denouncing as a “fishing expedition” a demand by Michael Flynn’s new defense attorneys for nearly 50 categories of information that they contend will undercut the felony false-statement charge the former national security adviser pleaded guilty to nearly two years ago.
In a filing Tuesday, government lawyers urged U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan to proceed with Flynn’s long-delayed sentencing and reject the move by Flynn’s defense counsel to delve into a wide range of allegations against former special counsel Robert Mueller’s office and the FBI. The allegations include a claim that they deliberately set out to frame Flynn in an effort to target President Donald Trump.
The prosecution submission gives little ground, but it does offer at least one disclosure that could buttress arguments from Flynn’s new attorneys that he didn’t have an opportunity to fully explore some aspects of the investigation before deciding whether to plead guilty.
The government filing acknowledges that just one day before Flynn’s guilty plea, his former lawyers were told about an internal investigation into text messages sent by one of the FBI agents who interviewed him, Peter Strzok, including messages “that showed a preference for one of the candidates for President” — an allusion to Strzok’s expressions of support for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Prosecutors also acknowledged that Strzok didn’t think Flynn was lying at the time of the interview, saying the national security adviser seemed to have “a sure demeanor” and exhibited no signs of deception. Notwithstanding that assessment, the prosecution contended that “both interviewing agents have been clear, since the beginning and in their documentation, that the defendant made false statements to them on January 24, 2017, about multiple topics.”
Still, the timing of the disclosures to Flynn’s prior defense counsel — coming on the same day Flynn signed the paperwork for his guilty plea and just a day before a judge accepted it — could fuel claims that he was badgered into admitting guilt when he should have fought any charges.
t the time of his guilty plea and the hearing last year where the judge ultimately postponed imposing a sentence, Flynn was represented by Robert Kelner, an attorney with the prominent Washington law firm Covington & Burling.
In June, Flynn retained a new legal team helmed by Dallas attorney Sidney Powell, who had been a vocal critic of the Mueller probe and its prosecutors.
Within days of the shift, Flynn’s defense team and prosecutors were at odds, with a row breaking out over testimony Flynn was expected to give at a trial of his former business partner, Bjian Rafiekian, on charges relating to work the two men did for Turkish interests during the Trump campaign.
Flynn was abruptly dropped as a witness in the case, even though Sullivan delayed Flynn’s final sentencing specifically to allow him to complete that testimony.