US Appeals Court Asks to Hear From Flynn Judge

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday instructed the judge hearing the criminal case against President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn to respond to a recent petition in which Flynn asked the court to toss the charges.

On Wednesday, Flynn filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday, asking the criminal case against him be definitively dismissed as requested by the Department of Justice.

It also seeks to end the appointment of a court advocate and reassign the case to new judge.

The filing by General Flynn attorney Sidney Powell states, "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."

Judge Emmet Sullivan was overseeing the case, opposing the DOJ's bid to dismiss Flynn's case, and had appointed retired federal Judge John Gleeson to weigh possible contempt and perjury charges.

"Neither the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, nor the district court's local rules authorize amicus participation in criminal cases," Powell wrote in Tuesday's filing. "Prior to issuance of its extraordinary May 12, 2020, order, the district judge adhered scrupulously to the district court's rules, denying some two dozen attempts by third parties to intervene or file amicus briefs in this very case."

Powell's filing cited legal precedent supporting the appeal and acknowledge exculpatory evidence that justified the withdrawing of Flynn's guilty plea on one count of lying to a federal agent on the matter related to a Trump transition contact with a Russian Amb. Sergey Kislyak.

"Now additional facts have established he was not interviewed for a legitimate purpose, and therefore any statements he made were not 'material' under 18 U.S.C. §1001, the government justly believes that he is not guilty of any crime," Powell wrote.