From NYT 5/8/20:
The Justice Department’s decision to drop criminal charges against Michael Flynn continues a pattern for the Trump administration: On multiple occasions, this White House has handled criminal matters in ways that are highly favorable to political allies. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Julie O’Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor.
Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, had pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with a Russian diplomat. The Justice Department said it dropped the matter because those lies were not “materially” relevant to the Russia investigation.
From The Skimm 5/15/20:
The Story
So...there've been a lot of headlines about Michael Flynn this week.
Yeah what's that all about?
Let's start with a refresher, shall we? One piece of advice: take a sip of your coffee because this story's more complicated than one-color puzzles.
Got it.
In late 2016, Flynn – President Trump's incoming national security adviser – had a convo with a Russian diplomat to try to reset US-Russia relations. The FBI interviewed him about it and Flynn denied part of the convo – specifically, that he'd discussed sanctions policy. But the FBI said, 'hi, we have the transcript' so Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was due to be sentenced earlier this year. Fast forward to last week.
What happened?
The Justice Department said 'let's actually drop those charges.' It called Flynn's convo with the diplomat "entirely appropriate" and said the FBI shouldn't have interviewed Flynn in the first place. Meanwhile, the judge in this case is looking into whether the DOJ's the one that's overstepping. But that's not all – we also learned more about Flynn's unmasking.
What's that?
The practice of revealing a person's name in intel communications. In this case, Obama officials wanted to know who that guy was who kept coming up in reports during the transition (spoiler: it was Flynn). While this was legal, Trump saw the attention as evidence that Obama's admin had it out for him and his team. This week, we learned that dozens of Obama officials had requested to look at the name, including former VP Joe Biden. Biden's campaign says he had no way of knowing it was Flynn. Now, Senate Republicans plan to hold hearings on all this next month.
I need another coffee.
You do you. The main thing to keep in mind is that this story is being interpreted differently by different people. Here's how some people see Flynn...
His supporters…a tragic hero. Yes, he lied to the FBI...but it was about a policy conversation by an incoming admin official. As the FBI's own counterintelligence chief apparently wondered: was the goal of the Flynn interview to "get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?"
His critics...the boy who lied. And now may get off without jail time. Some see the DOJ's move to drop the case as "unprecedented." And think focusing on Flynn is Trump's way of distracting from the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 85,000 Americans.
theSkimm
This is a debate about Flynn's case – but it's also about the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and what went down in 2016. Now, with Senate and DOJ investigations set to continue for months, the story's on track to leak into the 2020 election cycle. 2016: it wasn't over, it still isn't over.