United States v. Flynn

United States v. Flynn
Court	United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Full case name	United States of America v. Michael T. Flynn
Docket nos.	No. 17-232-EGS
Defendant	Michael Flynn
Counsel for plaintiff	Brandon Lang Van Grack, U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel's Office, Zainab Naeem Ahmad, U.S. Department of Justice, Deborah A. Curtis, Jocelyn S. Ballantine, U.S, Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia
Plaintiff	United States
Citation	411 F.Supp. 3d 15 (D.D.C 2019)
Case history
Prior actions	Michael Flynn pleads guilty to making false statements under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, before withdrawing his plea prior to sentencing, with case assigned to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Flynn alleges prosecutors are guilty of violations under Brady v. Maryland, and submits motions to Compel the Production of Brady Material, Produce Newly Discovered Brady Evidence, and to Show Cause.
Subsequent action	U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia submits motion to dismiss all charges on May 7, 2020. Petition for Writ of Mandamus granted to Flynn by United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in In Re: Michael T. Flynn USCA Case #20-5143 (D.C. Cir June 24, 2020)
Holding
Flynn's motions to compel prosecutors' to produce Brady materials and newly discovered evidence, and to compel prosecutors to show cause, are denied.
Court membership
Judges sitting	Rudolph Contreras (recused Dec. 7, 2017),[1] Emmet G. Sullivan
Keywords
Michael Flynn, Brady v. Maryland, Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Special Counsel investigation (2017–2019), Making false statements

United States v. Flynn was a criminal case in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia which was dismissed without any convictions in December 2020 following a presidential pardon. Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general in the United States Armed Forces, had accepted President-elect Donald Trump's offer for the position of National Security Advisor in 2016 and then briefly served as National Security Advisor. He pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Flynn's alleged false statements involve conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak when Flynn was incoming National Security Advisor to President-elect Trump, and Flynn agreed to cooperate with the Special Counsel investigation as part of a plea deal.

Judge Rudolph Contreras was initially assigned to the case, and he accepted the plea bargain between Flynn and Special Counsel Robert Mueller in December 2017. One week later, Judge Contreras recused himself, and the case was reassigned to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. Sentencing was postponed several times to allow for cooperation with the Special Counsel investigation. In a sentencing hearing in December 2018, Flynn reiterated his guilty plea before Judge Sullivan, who postponed sentencing again.

In June 2019, Flynn fired his initial counsel from the firm Covington and Burling and hired Sidney Powell. Powell moved to compel production of additional Brady material and newly discovered evidence in October 2019, which was denied by Sullivan in December 2019. Flynn then moved to withdraw his guilty plea in January 2020, claiming that the government had acted in bad faith and breached the plea agreement.

In May 2020, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to dismiss the charge against Flynn with prejudice, asserting that it no longer believed it could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Flynn had made false statements to the FBI or that the statements, even if false, were materially false in regards to the FBI's investigation. Sullivan then appointed an amicus, John Gleeson, to prepare an argument against dismissal. Sullivan also allowed amici to file briefs regarding the dismissal motion.

Powell filed an emergency petition for a writ of mandamus in the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking (1) that Judge Sullivan be ordered to grant the government's motion to dismiss, (2) for Sullivan's amicus appointment of Gleeson to be vacated, and (3) for the case be assigned to another judge for any additional proceedings. The appellate court panel assigned to the case ordered Sullivan to respond, and briefs were also filed by the DOJ and amici. In June 2020, the appeals court panel ruled 2–1 in favor of Flynn on the first two requests, and the panel unanimously rejected the third request. Judge Sullivan petitioned the Court of Appeals for an en banc rehearing, a request opposed by Flynn and the DOJ. The appellate court granted Sullivan's petition and vacated the panel's ruling. The case was ultimately dismissed as moot after President Trump pardoned Flynn.