Gen. Michael Flynn's attorney Tuesday said the judge overseeing his case should have no further involvement moving forward.
"There are no circumstances now under which Judge (Emmet) Sullivan can continue on this case because his bias demands his disqualification and just the very appearance of bias is enough to demand his disqualification," Sidney Powell said during a federal appeals court hearing Tuesday over whether Sullivan overstepped his authority by not initially accepting the DOJ’s push to drop its criminal case against Flynn.
Sullivan, she argued, had lost his "neutrality."
The Justice Department in May filed a motion to drop charges against Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, despite the fact he had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI as part of an agreement to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Sullivan appointed an outside counsel to present a counter argument the case should not be tossed. He also allowed other parties to weigh in on the question.
Several judges Tuesday appeared to express concern over taking the extraordinary step of intervening in the case before Sullivan holds a scheduled hearing to consider arguments on the Justice Department’s motion.
"It's the core of any judge's job to assess cases and view the strongest arguments that can be made on both sides," D.C. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard said, in an exchange with Powell. "Your position is, 'no,' he can't hear both sides from the law he has to drop the case like a hot potato without adversary closing argument."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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