Judge orders Justice Department to verify its filings in Flynn case
Source: Politico
The federal judge presiding over the criminal case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn has ordered the Justice Department to conduct an unusual review of its filings in the case and certify by Monday whether any have been manipulated.
The order is a signal of intense distrust between the judge, Emmet Sullivan, and the department, whose filings are typically accepted at face value. In this case, DOJ has already acknowledged that two documents it previously filed — handwritten notes taken by former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe — were altered "inadvertently" to include inaccurate dates.
Sullivan's demand will force the Justice Department to confront tricky interpretations of hand-written notes that DOJ and Flynn's legal team have relied on to seek the dismissal of the prosecution.
Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to making false statements about his interactions with Russia's then-ambassador to the United States in the weeks before President Donald Trump's inauguration. Flynn encouraged the Russian envoy, Sergey Kislyak, to resist escalating a sanctions battle with the outgoing Obama administration, which sought to punish Russia for interfering int eh 2016 election. But Flynn told FBI agents in a Jan. 24, 2017 interview — as well as other Trump administration officials — that sanctions were not raised on the calls.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-orders-justice-department-to-verify-its-filings-in-flynn-case/ar-BB1akFKG?li=BBnb7Kz
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