Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s defense team delivered a Petition for Writ of Mandamus to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday “to correct Judge Sullivan’s unauthorized actions.”
The petition seeks an order directing the district court to dismiss the case against President Trump’s short-lived national security advisor, vacate Judge Emmet Sullivan’s amicus curiae order, and reassign the case to another judge.
#BREAKING Team Flynn has just delivered to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit a Petition for Writ of Mandamus to correct Judge Sullivan's unauthorized actions.@realDonaldTrump @TomFitton @Techno_Fog @ProfMJCleveland @marklevinshow @molmccann @GenFlynn pic.twitter.com/HhWkqR64Oa
— Sidney Powell 🇺🇸 🗽⚖️🚜🇺🇸 Attorney & Author (@SidneyPowell1) May 19, 2020
“Petitioner respectfully requests that this Court order the district court immediately to (1) grant the Justice Department’s Motion to Dismiss; (2) vacate its order appointing amicus curiae; and (3) reassign the case to another district judge as to any further proceedings,” the petition states.
Flynn’s lead attorney Sidney Powell asked the court to determine whether “the district court exceeded its authority and egregiously abused its discretion by failing to grant the Government’s Motion to Dismiss the Criminal Information and, instead, appointing an amicus to oppose the motion and to propose contempt and perjury charges against General Flynn, while inviting additional amici.”
Judge Sullivan, who oversees the Flynn case, refused last week to grant the government’s Motion to Dismiss and instead entered an order “appoint[ing] The Honorable John Gleeson (Ret.) as amicus curiae to present arguments in opposition to the government’s Motion to Dismiss” and to advise “whether the Court should issue an Order to Show Cause why Mr. Flynn should not be held in
criminal contempt for perjury.”
Flynn, in December of 2017, under extreme duress, pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents in order to save himself from further financial ruin and protect his son from corrupt and overzealous government prosecutors. Now Sullivan wants Flynn charged with a crime for pleading guilty to a crime he didn’t commit.
Sidney Powell filed the 36 page writ of mandamus on Tuesday afternoon with the court, arguing that Judge Emmet Sullivan has displayed “deep-seated antagonism” toward her client and shown “manifest confusion” about the case.
“General Flynn pled guilty on December 1, 2017,” the petition states.
A year later, on what was scheduled to be his sentencing, for which the Government had filed a motion for downward departure and certified his “substantial cooperation,” Judge Sullivan publicly berated him. He suggested he may have committed “treason,” asserted that he had “sold [his] country out,” and expressed “disdain” and “disgust” for General Flynn’s conduct—flat wrong on crucial facts of the case. Before Judge Sullivan returned from recess, explosive headlines of General Flynn’s “treason” permeated international news. Judge Sullivan postponed sentencing, after making clear that General Flynn faced prison despite the Government’s recommendation of leniency.
Powell argued later in the petition that “a defendant facing sentencing is entitled to a judge who does not express ‘disgust’ and ‘disdain’ in a courtroom filled with reporters.
Inflaming public passions against a party, particularly a criminal defendant, and encouraging prosecutors to vastly increase the charges against him, is the very antithesis of calling balls and strikes.
She went on to liken Sullivan to “an umpire who has decided to steal public attention from the players and focus it on himself.” She added: “He wants to pitch, bat, run bases, and play shortstop. In truth, he is way out in left field.”
Powell requested another judge to oversee the case, arguing that Sullivan’s “deep-seated antagonism” toward Flynn would make fair judgment impossible.