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General Michael Flynn
General Michael Flynn
It was Judge Rudolph Contreras who accepted General Flynn's guilty plea, but he suddenly was recused from the case. The likely reason is that Judge Contreras served on the special court that allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to surveil the Trump campaign based on the dubious FISA application. Judge Contreras may have approved one of those four warrants.
The judge assigned to Flynn's case now is Emmet G. Sullivan. Judge Sullivan immediately issued what is called a "Brady" order requiring Mueller to provide Flynn all information that is favorable to the defense whether with respect to guilt or punishment. Just today, Mueller's team filed an agreed motion to provide discovery to General Flynn under a protective order so that it can be reviewed by counsel but not disclosed otherwise.
This development is huge. Prosecutors almost never provide this kind of information to a defendant before he enters a plea - much less after he has done so. This is one of myriad problems in our justice system. As Judge Jed Rakoff wrote several years ago, people who are innocent enter guilty pleas every day. They simply can no longer withstand the unimaginable stress of a criminal investigation. They and their families suffer sheer exhaustion in every form - financial, physical, mental, and emotional. Add in a little prosecutorial duress - like the threat of indicting your son - and, presto, there's a guilty plea.
Comment: Sounds promising for General Flynn. Day-by-day the Clinton-DNC-FBI mess is unraveling. Time for some real justice.