"Michael Flynn’s lawyer asked President Trump not to pardon his former national security adviser and personally briefed the president on the case this month, the attorney told a judge reviewing the Justice Department’s bid to dismiss the prosecution Tuesday.
The disclosure by Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell was one of the most striking notes of a contentious five-hour hearing before U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan into whether the court should grant a Justice Department request to dismiss the case.
Flynn was the highest-ranking Trump adviser charged in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation and pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying about his dealings with a Russian diplomat. As he awaited sentencing, though, Flynn changed legal teams and tried to undo his plea, and his effort soon gained an unlikely ally: Attorney General William P. Barr, who tapped a prosecutor to specially review the matter and then had the Justice Department move to walk away.
The request sparked outcry from those who felt the country’s top law enforcement official was inappropriately intervening in a criminal case to help a friend of the president. Trump has repeatedly alleged that Flynn was wronged, and Powell’s revelation Tuesday seemed to reinforce the president’s personal interest in the case.
Throughout the hearing, Sullivan emphasized that his role is not to serve as a “rubber stamp” in reviewing the Justice Department request.
Flynn’s lawyer initially declined to answer Sullivan’s questions about her interactions with Trump, citing executive privilege. Powell later relented after the judge noted she was not a government official."
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Washington Post
Michael Flynn’s lawyer says she asked Trump not to pardon the former national security adviser
Matt Zapotosky
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