As I heard the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judges who denied General Flynn’s petition for a writ of mandamus — opinion here — they expected Judge Sullivan to dismiss the case against Flynn on the government’s motion without further ado when the case was returned to him. This past Tuesday Judge Sullivan held the hearing on the government’s dismissal motion and, on the contrary, it sounds like the case will be dismissed over Judge Sullivan’s dead body. The Washington Post has a long account of the hearing here as does Politico here.
Politico quotes Judge Sullivan: “The sentencing has already commenced in this case.” Reporters Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney comment: “The import of the judge’s view of sentencing as being in progress wasn’t entirely clear.”
St. Louis attorney John Reeves clarified the import in a series of 19 tweets that commences with the first below. Click on the time stamp in the tweet to access the rest of the series. I agree with Reeves that the ordeal of General Flynn is to be continued by Judge Sullivan until it is shut down by a higher authority. Although the D.C. Circuit anticipated that Judge Sullivan would follow the law in due course, he seems to have lost the thread somewhere along the line.
THREAD re: @GenFlynn hearing.
1) Based on yesterday’s hearing, I predict that Judge Sullivan will not only DENY the DOJ’s motion to dismiss the case, but will do so BEFORE the election. (cont) @SidneyPowell1 @McAdooGordon @RonColeman @ProfMJCleveland @MarinaMedvin— John M. Reeves (@reeveslawstl) September 30, 2020
