If you want to understand @SidneyPowell1 assertion federal prosecutors wanted @GenFlynn to lie, @McAdooGordon piece @FDRLST is a must read! thefederalist.com/2020/01/20/why… I would only add two points. 1/
@SidneyPowell1 @GenFlynn @McAdooGordon @FDRLST 2/ How could federal prosecutors justify deleting the "knew then and there" language from the Statement of Offense? That they agreed to delete that language tells me they were 1) trying to snow Flynn; and 2) possibly working w/ Covington lawyers to do so.
@SidneyPowell1 @GenFlynn @McAdooGordon @FDRLST 3/ This point is significant b/c as Leslie says, experienced criminal defense attorneys/prosecutors would know WHY it is included in Statement of Offense, but Flynn wouldn't, unless attorneys told him & made clear even w/ changed language court would treat it as if he admitted.
@SidneyPowell1 @GenFlynn @McAdooGordon @FDRLST 4/ So did prosecutors go along with changing hoping to snow Flynn? Hoping Flynn's attorneys would snow Flynn? Why else would prosecutors AGREE to change the language. Similarly, why would Flynn's former attorneys push to have language changed? One final point: My practice
@SidneyPowell1 @GenFlynn @McAdooGordon @FDRLST 5/ for ~25 years was at the federal APPELLATE level, so I never negotiated pleas or watched plea colloquys, but reviewed the cold hard record. And reviewed hundreds (likely thousands) of pleas/statement of offenses over the years and never have I seen this issue arise.
@SidneyPowell1 @GenFlynn @McAdooGordon @FDRLST 6/ If I were prepping a case with the Statement of Offense Flynn signed off on, absent case law (which I doubt exists), I would recommend concluding that Flynn did not agree to violating FARA for relevant conduct purposes. I would have done that WITHOUT the redline b/c of
@SidneyPowell1 @GenFlynn @McAdooGordon @FDRLST 7/ the difference in language: Different language means something. BUT with the redline, my recommendation would be 100% that he did not agree he knew at time FARA filed. And if there was case law that said contrary, I'd like not find not persuasive if it argued general point
@SidneyPowell1 @GenFlynn @McAdooGordon @FDRLST 8/ that there is no other reason to include in Statement of Offense. Or it would likely be fact-bound: That judge asked if individual violated FARA during plea colloquy. One question for @McAdooGordon Do the SOF typically have headings "Relevant Conduct?" For some reason,
@SidneyPowell1 @GenFlynn @McAdooGordon @FDRLST 9/9 I'm thinking they did, but it might be I'm thinking of PSR. END
