Legal expert Ken Starr said the federal judge presiding over retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s case had been acting more like a persecutor than an impartial justice in recent weeks.
“I’m very surprised at Judge [Emmet] Sullivan, who has an excellent reputation,” Starr said on Fox News Tuesday. “But we’re in violation right now of civics 101. He’s a judge, he’s not the prosecutor.”
Starr was referring to Sullivan’s decision to allow an outsider, retired New York federal Judge John Gleeson, to argue against a Department of Justice motion to drop the charges of lying to federal investigators Flynn faces.
Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with Russian. The charges stemmed from a counterintelligence investigation into the country’s meddling in the 2016 election. He later filed to withdraw his guilty plea after the Justice Department asked the judge to sentence him to up to six months in prison.
Newly uncovered transcripts reveal key officials at the FBI continued an investigation of Flynn, despite a lack of evidence he had committed a crime or misled them about his contacts.
Starr praised Attorney General William Barr, who moved earlier this month to drop the charges against Flynn.
“[He] did this exactly right,” Starr said of Barr. “When new evidence came to light, including evidence that had been withheld … he had an assessment … and that assessment resulted in the judgment, we must dismiss these charges.”
Starr said, “The charges never should have been brought.”
Trump and his defenders have cited Flynn’s case as proof of a so-called deep state ploy at the top levels of the FBI under former President Barack Obama to spy on and undermine Trump.
Trump has dubbed the scandal “Obamagate” and accused the former president of committing a crime against him and his associates but has declined to give specifics.
This week, Flynn’s legal team asked an appeals court to intervene in the case, which the lower court has attempted to delay after Barr’s motion to drop the charges.
“An innocent man has been the target of a vendetta by politically motivated officials at the highest level of the FBI,” Flynn’s team said. “The egregious Government misconduct, and the three-year abuse of General Flynn and his family, cry out for ending this ordeal immediately and permanently.”
