Judge invites outside parties to weigh in on Flynn case, delaying DOJ effort to drop charges

A federal judge said Tuesday that he would allow interested parties to weigh in on Michael Flynn’s case, delaying the Department of Justice (DOJ) effort to drop the charges against the former national security adviser.

The case was upended last week when the DOJ moved to dismiss its charge against Flynn for lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. in 2016.

The lead prosecutor on the case, who had been overseeing it since Flynn first pleaded guilty to the charge in 2017, withdrew shortly before the motion was filed last Thursday.

It’s unusual for prosecutors to withdraw a case against a defendant who has already pleaded guilty. The move to allow amicus briefs offers critics of the DOJ’s decision an opportunity to weigh in.

Sullivan, a Clinton appointee, still needs to approve the DOJ’s motion to drop the charges. He has yet to schedule a hearing or ask for further briefing.

Critics have accused the department of intervening on behalf of one of President Trump’s allies and former advisers, and Sullivan’s decision to invite amicus filings will allow them to present legal arguments against approving the DOJ’s motion.

This week, Jonathan Kravis, a former career DOJ prosecutor who resigned after his sentencing recommendation for longtime Republican strategist Roger Stone was overruled by the administration, published an op-ed in The Washington Post calling the decision to drop Flynn’s charges “appalling.”

“In both cases, the department undercut the work of career employees to protect an ally of the president, an abdication of the commitment to equal justice under the law,” Kravis wrote. “Prosecutors must make decisions based on facts and law, not on the defendant’s political connections. When the department takes steps that it would never take in any other case to protect an ally of the president, it betrays this principle.”