The constitutiuon expressly denies pardon power to cases of impeachment. This is because impeachment is not an executive department power, it is a Congressional power.
View the Flynn case as two cases. One, the "lied to the FBI" case. This is gone. The government dropped it and Sullivan can't resurrect it. There is no point in issuing a pardon here.
Two, a judge-made charge of criminal contempt. This, like impeachment, is NOT brought by the executive branch. It is an odd legal widget where a court has the power to be both prosecutor and judge. I don;t know of any precednet for a presidentiual pardon of judge-brought criminal contemt, and there is a good argument that this is out of POTUS power.
I am emphatically not defending Sullivan. He and the Court system are out of control and abusing their power. It would be righteous if the people rejected the authority of the court. It is out of its lane, and it is a clear and preesnt danger to the republic.
Thanks for the post. And even if the dems lose the house of representatives, it would take 67 senate votes to remove Sullivan.