Thread by @bradheath

A federal judge has rejected a request by lawyers for Mike Flynn that DOJ be forced to turn over a bunch of other evidence that they said could help show that the government acted improperly when it charged him with lying to the FBI.

Judge Sullivan also doesn't seem inclined to hold the prosecutors in contempt.

A sentencing hearing for Mike Flynn, President Trump's first national security adviser, is scheduled for Jan. 28. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Judge Sullivan says that Flynn's new lawyer has "failed to establish a single Brady violation," referring to the Supreme Court ruling that requires prosecutors to disclose exculpatory evidence. He then turns ominously to "ethical concerns" in Flynn's brief.

Judge Sullivan accuses Flynn's lawyers of plagiarism. This is not a nice opinion for his counsel.

Flynn's lawyers had argued that the government was required to disclose favorable evidence to him even before he was charged. Judge Sullivan notes that this is not the law.

Then Judge Sullivan goes through the types of documents Flynn's lawyers have requested. He lumps them into categories such as:
1) Information that does not exist
2) Information that is not within the government's possession

Etc.

Not great.

Judge Sullivan says Flynn isn't entitled to all of the text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the FBI officials who disdained Trump. Flynn knew about them before he pleaded guilty, they don't show his innocence, and the specific texts wouldn't change that.

Judge Sullivan is not persuaded by Flynn's arguments that the FBI's report summarizing the interview in which he lied was altered or was inconsistent with the agents' notes.

Judge Sullivan says that agents' "notes, draft FD-302s, and final FD-302 are both consistent and clear that Mr. Flynn made false statements to the FBI about his communications with the Russian Ambassador."

Judge Sullivan says Flynn - by which he means Flynn's lawyers - have "a fundamental misunderstanding of the law of materiality" under the false-statements statute.

Not surprisingly, Judge Sullivan says it's pretty obvious that Flynn's lies about his conversations with the Russian ambassador were material to the FBI's investigation of links between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Judge Sullivan also won't order DOJ to turn over records about former Deputy Director Andy McCabe saying "First we f[**]k Flynn, then we f[**]k Trump." DOJ says it investigated that claim and it never happened.

Judge Sullivan also won't order production of records (if any) of contact between the special counsel and the press. He's skeptical of Flynn's claim that Mueller's office was "manipulating or controlling the press to their advantage." And anyway it's irrelevant.

Flynn also wanted information about FISA surveillance (per the IG, he wasn't targeted) to establish a 4th Am. violation. Judge Sullivan agrees that by pleading guilty, Flynn waived the right to challenge the admissibility of evidence against him.

This is how a judge says "what are you even talking about?"

Judge Sullivan also won't order DOJ to turn over transcripts or recordings of Flynn's conversations with the Russian ambassador. If those things even exist, Flynn has "failed to establish that the requested information ... is exculpatory."

And Judge Sullivan won't give Flynn's lawyer access to classified information, because "by any conceivable measure, Mr. Flynn's requested information is neither helpful nor relevant to the defense."

And Judge Sullivan isn't persuaded that Flynn's previous lawyers had a conflict of interest that could not be waived, an argument that could have unraveled some of the concessions he made during his guilty plea.

Generally not good when the judge does this ->

Judge Sullivan flatly rejects Flynn's arguments "that the FBI conducted an ambush interview for the purpose of trapping him into making false statements and that the government pressured him to enter a guilty plea. The record proves otherwise."

Sullivan says "the sworn statements of Mr. Flynn and his former counsel belie his new claims of innocence and his new assertions that he was pressured into pleading guilty." Then he cites the things Flynn and his lawyers have said in court.

Judge Sullivan says he won't dismiss the case against Flynn. "This case is not United States v. Theodore F. Stevens."

In the end, Judge Sullivan rejected each and every claim of wrongdoing Flynn's new lawyer, @SidneyPowell1, made against DOJ. And he ended up accusing her of violating the D.C. ethics rules.

@SidneyPowell1 Last year, Judge Sullivan hammered Flynn's lawyers during a sentencing hearing because he thought a paragraph they wrote about the circumstances of his FBI interview meant he wasn't accepting responsibility.

We'll see Jan. 28 how Flynn doubling down on that argument works out.

@SidneyPowell1 Judge Sullivan also isn't thrilled with all this talk of "collusion." It's "not a specific offense or theory of liability ... nor is it a term of art."

But he says, "the Special Counsel identified several links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign."

@SidneyPowell1 And, to add something you don't see every day, there's a multi-page chart showing why Flynn isn't entitled to *any* of the additional information he says the government concealed.

@SidneyPowell1 Here's Judge Sullivan's opinion. It's long, matter-of-fact, and basically a complete repudiation of the claims Flynn and his new lawyer have been making all year.

drive.google.com/file/d/1zOHaoy…

@SidneyPowell1 For those of you have asked, here's the part of Flynn's plea agreement that basically guarantees Judge Sullivan will have the last word on this. He's broadly waived his right to appeal or otherwise challenge his conviction. This is standard language in federal plea agreements.