A prosecutor reviewing the case against former Trump adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn uncovered “stunning ... evidence that proves Mr. Flynn’s allegations of having been deliberately set up and framed by corrupt agents at the top of the FBI,” Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, said in an April 24 court filing.
Powell also submitted two emails that indicate prosecutors made an under-the-table deal with Flynn’s previous lawyers to not prosecute Flynn’s son in exchange for Flynn’s cooperation with multiple investigations.
Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to one count of lying to FBI agents.
Jeffrey Jensen, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, has been reviewing the Flynn case at the direction of Attorney General William Barr since January.
‘In Their Own Handwriting’
The new evidence “defeats any argument that the [FBI] interview of Mr. Flynn on January 24, 2017 was material to any ‘investigation,’” Powell wrote. “The government has deliberately suppressed this evidence from the inception of this prosecution—knowing there was no crime by Mr. Flynn.”The documents “show in their own handwriting and emails” that “partisan” FBI and Justice Department leaders “intended either to create an offense they could prosecute or at least get [Flynn] fired,” Powell said.
Reiterating Flynn’s demand for the case to be dismissed, she said, “The government’s misconduct in this case is beyond shocking and reprehensible.”
Powell has argued that the investigation of Flynn, officially for his supposed “relationship” with Russia, was a pretext to target Trump.
Missing Documents, Plea Withdrawal Request
Powell previously asked Judge Emmet Sullivan to order the government to hand over a plethora of documents Powell said were exculpatory to Flynn. Among them, the original draft of the FBI report from the Flynn interview.On Jan. 7, prosecutors asked for zero to six months in prison for Flynn, a somewhat harsher recommendation than Flynn expected based on the cooperation he provided. The prosecutors argued that he pulled back his cooperation in a related case against his former business partner Bijan Rafiekian last year.
Unofficial Side Deal
The emails newly revealed by Powell date back to 2018 and seem to show internal communications regarding the plea deal between Flynn’s previous lawyers from Covington & Burling.The prosecutors threatened to charge Flynn Jr. based on allegations that Flynn’s now-defunct consultancy, Flynn Intel Group, lied in its foreign lobbying disclosures.
“The government took pains not to give a promise to MTF [Michael T. Flynn] regarding Michael [Flynn] Jr., so as to limit how much of a ‘benefit’ it would have to disclose as part of its Giglio disclosures to any defendant against whom MTF may one day testify,” the email read.
“Giglio” refers to a 1972 Supreme Court opinion that requires prosecutors to disclose to the defense that a witness used by the prosecutors has been promised an escape from prosecution in exchange for cooperation.
Going Against Ex-Lawyers
Powell has asserted that Flynn is innocent in the lobbying matter and that if there was anything wrong with the paperwork, it was the fault of Covington & Burling, which Flynn originally hired to prepare it.The question of who bungled up the paperwork created a conflict of interest between Flynn and Covington that resulted in the lawyers providing ineffective counsel, Powell has argued.
Covington lawyers have since submitted declarations of more than 100 pages of text and more than 500 pages of partly redacted exhibits related to their representation of Flynn.