Ex-judge cites ‘gross abuse’ of power

A retired federal judge accused the Justice Department on Wednesday of a “gross abuse of prosecutorial power” and urged a court to reject its attempt to drop the criminal case against Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, and instead sentence him.

The arguments in a 73page brief by John Gleeson, the retired judge appointed to argue against the Justice Department’s unusual effort to drop the Flynn case, were the latest turn in a politically fraught case that now centers on the question of whether Flynn should continue to be prosecuted.

The Justice Department’s intervention last month, directed by Attorney General William Barr, came after a long public campaign by Trump and his allies and prompted an outcry from former law enforcement officials that the administration was further politicizing the department.

Flynn’s lawyers and the Justice Department have sought to bypass Gleeson and the federal judge in the case who appointed him, Emmet G. Sullivan. An appeals panel will hear arguments Friday about whether to dismiss the case without allowing Sullivan to conduct his review of the department’s request to withdraw the charge against Flynn.

Gleeson’s brief amounted to a step-by-step dissection of the factual claims and legal arguments the Justice Department put forward last month to justify withdrawing a charge of making false statements that Flynn had twice pleaded guilty to. Gleeson said the department’s intervention was an example of the kind of “corrupt, politically motivated dismissals” that judges have the power to guard against.

But he also said Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt of court for lying under oath when he gave conflicting statements about his actions to Sullivan, a possibility the judge had raised when appointing Gleeson last month.