MSNBC host Rachel Maddow suggested there is an odd coincidence in Attorney General William Barr’s pick for a top prosecutor spot.
The Associated Press reported on Thursday that Barr picked his senior counselor, Timothy Shea, to be U.S. attorney in D.C. He will lead the same office that is prosecuting former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“The plot thickens,” Maddow said in a tweet.
The post is the second in a thread that began on Wednesday, when the Justice Department said it will not oppose probation for Flynn, who earlier this month filed to withdraw his guilty plea to lying to the FBI about his communications with a Russian ambassador.
“22 days ago, DOJ prosecutors in the Mike Flynn case were asking for a sentence of imprisonment. Now they say they’re not,” Maddow said. “What happened in the last 22 days?”
The plot thickens.
Attorney General Barr now moves to install one of his top aides as the new US Attorney in the office prosecuting Flynn:https://t.co/6kiMF7Zmp7
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) January 30, 2020
After Flynn, 61, filed to withdraw his guilty plea, federal prosecutors asked Judge Emmet Sullivan to sentence the retired lieutenant general to up to six months in prison, a reversal of its previous request that Flynn receive probation and no time. At the time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. reasoned that the “complete record” showed actions by Flynn that “negate the benefits of much of the defendant’s earlier cooperation.”
The current U.S. attorney leading the Flynn case, Jessie Liu, was nominated by President Trump for a Treasury Department position in December. Shea, who helped Barr establish reforms in the Bureau of Prisons after Jeffrey Epstein’s August death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, is taking over as interim head of the largest U.S. attorney’s office. He will oversee 300 attorneys responsible for litigation before over 100 judges in federal and local courts.
“I am pleased to appoint Tim Shea as Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Tim brings to this role extensive knowledge and expertise in law enforcement matters as well as an unwavering dedication to public service, reflected in his long and distinguished career in state and federal government,” Barr said in a statement. “His reputation as a fair prosecutor, skillful litigator, and excellent manager is second-to-none, and his commitment to fighting violent crime and the drug epidemic will greatly benefit the city of Washington. I would also like to express my gratitude to Jessie Liu, who has served with distinction as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia since 2017, and has been nominated to a new role at the Department of Treasury.”
In a filing on Wednesday, Flynn claimed he “never lied” to federal investigators and faulted his former legal team for providing poor advice and special counsel Robert Mueller’s team for a “sudden and intense” pressure campaign in November 2017 to get him to plead guilty.
Flynn was interviewed by FBI agents in January 2017 because he was one of a handful of people connected to the Trump campaign targeted by the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation, Crossfire Hurricane, which began in July 2016. As part of his plea deal, Flynn agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s Russia investigation, which did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Last week, Sullivan said Flynn may have to testify under oath in order to withdraw his plea deal. Flynn is tentatively scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 27.
Maddow, a critic of Trump, has been criticized for using her MSNBC show to give overly gratuitous attention to the Trump-Russia collusion theory and British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s anti-Trump dossier. In October, she said U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the origins of the Russia investigation appeared to be a “dangerous” extension of Trump’s reelection campaign.
