In a narrow 2-1 decision, a federal appeals court on Wednesday forced U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss a criminal case against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had twice confessed to committing the crimes he’s been tried for.
Directed by Attorney General William Barr, the Justice Department had moved to dismiss the case against the Donald Trump associate, who has admitted to lying to the FBI about his communications with the Russian government.
Judge Neomi Rao of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a Trump appointee who formerly served in the Trump administration, wrote the majority opinion, saying that allowing Judge Sullivan to examine the Justice Department’s reasons for moving to drop the charge “will result in specific harms to the exercise of the Executive Branch’s exclusive prosecutorial power.”
Flynn’s case has become a touchstone for Donald Trump and his supporters in their criticism of the FBI’s Russia investigation and special counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal prosecution of several Trump campaign associates.
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This is a developing story and will be updated.
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