This archive report was first published on 11 June 2020.
On June 11, 2020, a lawyer for Judge Sullivan urged a three-judge panel not to short-circuit his review of the Michael Flynn case, saying he would not necessarily adopt the arguments put forward by Mr. Gleeson.
Samuel Buell, a law professor at Duke University and a former federal prosecutor, described the situation as unusual, with both the district and appeals courts dealing with the same case simultaneously.
Mr. Gleeson's filing will not affect the appeals court panel's decision on whether to end the case without further review, but it will contribute to the overall atmosphere regarding the propriety of the government's motion to dismiss.
Mr. Gleeson offered a blistering critique of the Justice Department's rationale for dropping the case, calling it a 'gross abuse of power'. He argued that Mr. Flynn's lies were material to the investigation into Russia's covert operation to tilt the 2016 election in Mr. Trump's favor.
Mr. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the F.B.I. about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the transition period after Mr. Trump won the 2016 election.
