It’s *almost* a relief to be back on the Trump Regime scandal watch. The Barr-Flynn story is *almost* as ominous as the mounting COVID-19 body count but less lethal.
We’ve all been waiting for the pardon shoe to drop in the Flynn case, but Barr deserves credit for originality in criminality. I like to think of myself as well-informed, but I’ve never heard of prosecutors dropping charges against a defendant who pled guilty; at least in an American jurisdiction. This is some serious Banana Republic shit.
Any other Attorney General would have had their underlings pull such a shameful stunt, but Bill Barr is made of sterner stuff. He did it in broad daylight then bragged about it on television. It makes him the Trumpiest Trumper in Trumpistan.
Judge Emmet Sullivan will not be amused. He essentially called Flynn a traitor in open court. But it’s unclear what, if anything, he can do to thwart DOJ’S surreal stunt other than hold a hearing and ream them out. That’s why I used the Magritte Fog Of Scandal image. This is some surreal shit.
As the economy crashes and the scandals mount, the Trump regime is out of fucks to give. Accepting a guilty plea from a defendant then saying “never mind” is a terrible precedent. It resulted in the lead prosecutor resigning but that doesn’t matter to Team Trump. All that matters is that the Caudillo is happy. This is some serious Banana Republic shit.
The last word goes to Richard Thompson with a different type of pleading:
Barr is Trump’s fixer and a clear opponent of the Mueller investigation. He misrepresented its findings, and this is the culmination. The investigation itself should never have happened, so the reasoning goes, so lying to the FBI in the course of it, and even pleading guilty twice, shouldn’t be a crime. Barr and Trump get to decide what the law should be, and they say protecting Trump cannot be a crime, and so it’s not.
Judge Sullivan seems an intelligent sort of fellow. I imagine the obvious question has crossed his mind: If there’s no crime, no legitimate investigation (and how do you know whether a crime has been committed without an investigation?), then why would Flynn have to lie to the FBI? Flynn is not some babe-in-the-woods dumbass: “I didn’t know it was a crime to lie to the FBI!” He’s an experienced operator in all facets of the military and the government, and he lied to the FBI. End of story. His signed guilty plea stands.
“Trumpiest Trumper in Trumpistan”. That’s worth the price of admission right there.