US appeals court keeps Michael Flynn case alive and will not order its dismissal

1 September 2020, 16:14

Michael Flynn
Trump Adviser Arrest Glance. Picture: PA

Federal prosecutors moved in May to dismiss the prosecution even though Mr Flynn had pleaded guilty and admitted lying to the FBI.

A federal appeals court has declined to order the dismissal of the prosecution of US President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The court in Washington has permitted a judge to scrutinise the US Justice Department’s request to dismiss its case against Mr Flynn.

The decision keeps the matter at least temporarily alive and rejects efforts by both Mr Flynn’s lawyers and the Justice Department to force the prosecution to be dropped without any further inquiry from the judge, who has declined to dismiss it for months.

Federal prosecutors moved in May to dismiss the prosecution even though Mr Flynn had pleaded guilty and admitted lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation about his Russian contacts during the presidential transition period. He was awaiting sentencing when the government asked to dismiss the case.

But US district judge Emmet Sullivan, signalling his scepticism at the government’s motion, refused to immediately grant the request and instead appointed a retired federal judge to argue against the Justice Department’s position.

US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump (Alex Brandon/PA)

Mr Flynn’s lawyers then sought to bypass Mr Sullivan and obtain a order from the federal appeals court that would have required the judge to immediately force the judge to dismiss the case.

At issue before the court was not the merits of Mr Flynn’s prosecution but rather whether Mr Sullivan could be forced to grant the Justice Department’s dismissal request without even holding a hearing to scrutinise the basis for the motion.

“We have no trouble answering that question in the negative,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion for the eight judges in the majority.

Mr Flynn was the only person charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation who had been a White House official. Mr Mueller’s probe investigated ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

He was questioned by the FBI at the White House, just days after Mr Trump’s inauguration, about his conversations with the then-Russian ambassador to the US pertaining to sanctions that had just been imposed by the Obama administration for election interference.

The conversation alarmed law enforcement and intelligence officials who were already investigating whether the Trump campaign had co-ordinated with Russia to sway the presidential election in Mr Trump’s favour. They were puzzled by the White House’s public insistence that Mr Flynn and the diplomat had not discussed sanctions.

But the Justice Department argued in May that the FBI had insufficient basis to interrogate Mr Flynn about that conversation, which attorney general William Barr has described as fully appropriate for an incoming national security adviser to have had.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Video footage shows the convoy had emergency lights flashing when it was hit

Israel admits ‘mistakenly’ killing 15 aid workers after video leak contradicted official version of events

Jaguar Land Rover has paused shipments to the US in the wake of 'Liberation Day' tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover halts shipments to US in wake of tariffs as Trump insists he'll win 'economic revolution'

Flowers and toys left on a swing seat to commemorate victims killed in Russia's missile attack on Friday

Death toll from Russian strike on Zelenskyy's home town rises as 18 confirmed dead - including nine children

Donald Trump's 10% tariff on UK products has officially come into force

Trump tariffs come into force as global stock markets plunge deeper into the red

Tom Howard

British tourist killed after being struck by boulder on trek through Himalayas

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a car burns following a Russian missile attack that killed more than a dozen people, including children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Russia kills 16 people including three children in missile strike on Zelenskyy's home town, with dozens wounded

Travel influencer Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, made an illegal visit to North Sentinel Island

Tourist who left Coke for world's most isolated tribe 'could have wiped them all out' - and police 'can't go collect can'

White House weighs in to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

White House looking to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

This image provided by NASA shows Nick Hague, right, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore. (NASA via AP)

Stranded NASA astronauts reveal they were almost trapped in space 'forever' after horror malfunction

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen'

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen' after far-right leader found guilty of embezzlement in 'witch hunt'

China will impose a 34% retaliatory tariff on imports from the US

China announces additional 34% tariffs on US imports in retaliation over Trump's 'Liberation Day' levies

Friends of Prince Andrew say he's "unsurprised" Giuffre made the post

Prince Andrew 'not surprised' his accuser shared shock post saying she had 'four days to live'

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol

South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol removed from office as impeachment upheld over martial law declaration

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’