Posted on 05/23/2020 2:46:59 PM PDT by CaptainK
Veteran trial lawyer Beth Wilkinson is helping guide U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan as a federal appeals court questions his plan to probe the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to dismiss the case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn despite his admission he lied to the FBI.
Sullivan refused to immediately dismiss the charge against Flynn, a retired Army general who served for just weeks in Trump’s White House, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is now weighing whether the longtime Washington federal trial judge overstepped his authority.
The appeals court set a June 1 deadline for Sullivan to respond to a petition from Flynn’s lawyers that seeks the immediate dismissal of the case. Sullivan, meanwhile, has appointed an outside lawyer, John Gleeson, a former federal judge in Brooklyn, to make arguments against the Justice Department’s bid to ditch the prosecution. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his communications with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., but he later hired new lawyers to help him withdraw his acknowledgement of wrongdoing.
Wilkinson, a co-founder of the litigation boutique Wilkinson Walsh, confirmed Saturday she had been retained by Sullivan, who has served on Washington’s federal trial court since 1994. The Washington Post first reported Wilkinson’s role advocating for the judge.
Wilkinson has long been in the spotlight in Washington legal circles and beyond as a successful defense-side trial lawyer advocating for major U.S. companies. She left the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in 2016 to start the boutique, which has offices in Washington, New York and Los Angeles.
She has frequently taken on high-profile assignments. In 2018, she was hired by Brett Kavanaugh, then a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, to help shepherd him through confirmation proceedings at which he had been accused of a decades-old sexual misconduct allegation. Kavanaugh, who denied the claim, was confirmed to the high court.
More recently, Wilkinson was retained by Summer Zervos in a suit in New York state court that accuses Trump of lying in his denials that he did not grope and kiss her without consent in 2007. The case is pending.
In the D.C. Circuit now, Wilkinson is counsel to Cheryl Mills, a former aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a dispute over a deposition in a public-records case. One of Sullivan’s colleagues on the bench, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, said the plaintiff—the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch—could depose Clinton and Mills.
.Sullivan’s move to appoint Gleeson, now a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, to oppose the Justice Department’s move to dismiss was seen by some observers as an assertion of independence of the courts as a co-equal branch of government. Still others said Sullivan had assumed too powerful a role, and that he should have dismissed the case at the Justice Department’s request.
Legal scholars are divided over how much power Sullivan holds to scrutinize the Justice Department’s charging decisions. Federal rules do not allow prosecutors to unilaterally dismiss any criminal case. They need “leave of court” before a charge can be withdrawn.
At one time, Flynn was prepared to be punished, but he agreed to further cooperate with the special counsel’s Russia investigation in an effort to secure a non-jail sentence. During Flynn’s first scheduled sentencing, Sullivan raised the prospect that Flynn might go to prison for lying to federal agents.
Timothy Shea, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a former close adviser to Barr, asked Sullivan to dismiss the case against Flynn on the ground that prosecutors no longer believe there was a strong basis to justify the FBI’s 2017 interview that is central to the false-statements claim. Former Justice Department officials have disputed the government’s claim there was no ground to interview Flynn.
Who wants Flynn silenced?
Exactly what I want to know as well.
Sullivan is not in control, he has a gun to his head.
These M’fers have way too much power.
First I heard of that. Are you sure? When did this happen?
The appellate court isn't going to give Sullivan more time to let Wilkinson come up to speed. Sorry, but no.
Sullivan hired Wilkinson, I believe, because he's not as good an author for winning ideas as is needed.
Assuming Wilkinson is as good as Sullivan thinks she is, she may well tell him to save face and throw in the towel on June 1st. Doing that with the help of outside advice looks just a bit better than backing down from the Appellate Court in an apparent admission that he was wrong.
Removing the gag order against Flynn via dismissal is a biggie.
And this article's authors are obviously biased, no fully discussing the forces at play, such as the recent 9-0 SCOTUS opinion.
"Former Justice Department officials have disputed the government’s claim there was no ground to interview Flynn."
WTH are the authors doing giving nameless Former DOJ officials say in the matter? Just like Sullivan, they're trying to give outsiders a chance to posture and smear Flynn's case.
See the first post
Three things to note:
1. Mandamus is normally denied, so moving to a hearing is huge
2. The Court has not invited the Amicus to file a brief.
3. The Court has cited the Fokker case as the basis for its order, signalling to Sullivan their thinking.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3847274/posts
i agree some rumors he pulled strings for one of his sons problems..
Thanks!
I hope this gets resolved soon.
It’s gone on far too long.
“ And, if he doesn’t know what lines to argue along, he should let Flynn go.”
——————
If he doesn’t know what to do, he should resign his office.
Flynn knows a lot that went on in the Obama years...
He better put what he knows in a secret lawyers office..
So people are going to hang? This country needs a cathartic series of hangings on the commons live on pay per view.
That’s the attitude!!
What is Judge Sullivan thinking? A judge tells Court of Appeals he needs a lawyer to represent him on his management and rulings in a case? Where outcome, whether he likes it or not, is obvious under Circuit precedent? Are plaudits for anti-Trump cred worth his reputation? 1/2
He’s totally entitled to fume on the record that Flynn looked him in the eye and swore that he lied, that Flynn’s erratic litigation strategy caused the court needless effort, and that he thinks DOJ is wrong. But the law requires him to grant the dismissal. Do your job. 2/2
7:26 PM · May 23, 2020
Exactly, correct.
Judge Sullivan is reaching into all of our pockets to pay for this blatantly political left-wing legal maneuver.The American taxpayer will be forced to pony up big bucks for this half-assed attempt to forestall General Flynn's imminent release.
This whole mess is nothing but Sullivan dragging in Beth Wilkinson, another leftist shyster, to illegally extend the time before Flynn's release from this baseless case.
Wilkinson goes back to Hillary and her minions' problems with testifying about those felonious deleted emails. Beth Wilkinson knows where many a Democrat body is buried.
The Dem insiders and the DNC are desperate to keep General Flynn shut down until after election time. Judge Sullivan, Beth Wilkinson and select slimy amicus trolls will do everything they possibly can to keep an air-tight lid on the long-suffering General
I would think a firm that takes any client will expand their potential business quite a bit. A good lawyer can advocate for anyone without feeling a need to vote for them or their cause.
But many posters on this site can't see that - they think everyone and everything is nothing but politics and that is not necessarily true.
Wrong. He has 10 days to respond to the Court, whether he does it himself or has someone else write it. The response is due on June 1. Read the article.
It is WDC . Every political person in that cesspool should have an attorney on retainer...a team of attorneys .
but he’s a Judge doesn’t he know why he’s doing what he’s doing
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