An appeals court stayed a decision ordering a judge to accept the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss its criminal case against retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an order on Friday that gives the former Trump national security adviser and the DOJ 10 days to respond to Judge Emmet Sullivan’s Thursday petition for a rehearing by the full appeals court.
The filing further stated that the three-judge panel’s June 24 decision ordering Sullivan to grant the DOJ’s motion to drop the criminal charges against Flynn has been stayed “pending disposition of the petition for rehearing en banc.”
NEWS: The DC Circuit US Court of Appeals has stayed its decision ordering Judge Emmet Sullivan to end former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn’s criminal case while the entire en banc panel of appellate judges considers the issues. pic.twitter.com/F2SXLCIeg6
— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) July 10, 2020
Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to FBI investigators about his December 2016 conversations with a Russian envoy. After changing legal teams, Flynn began to claim this year that he was set up by the FBI, after which the DOJ said it would seek to drop the case.
Sullivan, a President Bill Clinton appointee who has been handling the Flynn case since December 2017, appointed retired New York federal Judge John Gleeson to serve as an amicus curiae to present arguments in opposition to the DOJ’s motion and to explore whether Flynn should be charged with perjury or contempt.
