The US case of Lt General Flynn, the former Trump white House NSA advisor, has been interesting to follow. He was caught up in the House Democrat’s Russian collusion affair and charged with perjury. Is he an American Dreyfus?
Prima facie, the FBI’s abuses of process, the rule of law and over bearing unconscionable duress (which one may think of as akin to black mail) by lawyers and law enforcement officers make this case an appalling example of the politicisation of law. At the human level it demonstrates a reckless disregard for Lt General Flynn who has lost his career, house and savings.
A Wall Street Journal article has reported that the FBI did not have to interview Flynn as it already had the transcripts of the interview he had had with the Russian ambassador and knew that was said and had cleared Flynn.
That was also confirmed in reports made after the FBI interview (without legal counsel or it seems a Miranda warning nor advice on not telling the truth) by the FBI. The FBI then Director, Mr Comey, smugly admitted on a 92ndSt Y interview caught by MSNBC - 10 December 2018- that he took advantage-and opportunistically so - of the new administration disorganisation in just coming in and purposely did not follow the established protocols in not clearing the interview with the White House Chief of Staff or White House Counsel. Mr Comey’s interview may come back to haunt him (https://www.youtube.com/watch?...) as may his ‘rivers of justice’ comment and his ‘higher calling’ absent the rule of law.
The FBI were going to close the file there being no case to answer but this was countermanded by Mr Comey and Mr Strzok (the interviewing officer and infamopus for his ‘insurance policy’ texts) says he did it because of a 7th floor directive (Mr Comey’s floor).
What does Robert Mueller’s 2iC prosecutor Andrew Weissman say in a MSNBC interview last week? There “is nothing new” in the unsealed documents and there is no perjury trap. That says that the FBI and its prosecutors knew that Lt General Flynn had no case but they went ahead anyway making it a political matter and interfering with the Chief Executive office.
The factual matrix to date unquestionably discloses a substantive dereliction of process and an abuse power seemingly with arrogant and grotesque sense of impunity.
I cannot imagine a greater breach of the rule of law than this given the WSJ’s Ms Strassel’s points in tweets cited in the article. The black mail: The plea only came because he was being blackmailed that if he did not plead they would prosecute is son. He crumpled under duress at that point.
The Dreyfus case in France from the 1894 to 1906 comes to mind as a parallel.
Lest we forget that Flynn is a Democrat worked in the Obama administration as a NSA. He went to work for the Trump campaign as an NSA advisor and ended up in the Administration because he is basically competent at his job.
Obama had, it is suggested in some media, set this process in train. He had fired Flynn over policy views on terrorism and seems to not liked him as he advised Trump before the hand over not to appoint him. Andrew McCarthy in the National Review on 2 May states:
” The objective of the Obama administration and its FBI hierarchy was to continue the Trump–Russia investigation, even after President Trump took office, and even though President Trump was the quarry. The investigation would hamstring Trump’s capacity to govern and reverse Obama policies. Continuing it would allow the FBI to keep digging until it finally came up with a crime or impeachable offense that they were then confident they would find.”
The new White House Secretary Kayleigh McEnany made a point of asking the Press Corps on Friday why the some of the main stream media were not covering the story. “… does it trouble you that the FBI said that we got to get Flynn to lie? ” “…. Doesn’t that trouble you as a journalist? And not only that, as an American citizen?” It ought to be troubling and a lesson.
Ms Sydney Powell has done a great job for Lt General Flynn. She represents what lawyers are supposed to stand for.
The abuse of power with impunity, and with such reckless disregard for a fellow human being - and in this case and others I have experienced- should never stand. The abuse is astonishingly by lawyers. When lawyers, who should know better, are playing ‘get’cha’ due process is the first thing to go. They are not the Twitchfork mob.
It is only in an open society with values of free speech, liberty of conscience and due process that wrongs can be put right. But it is some only some and not all wrongs are righted. Some take an ‘investment in the past’ for the salvaging of reputation, standing and vindication.
Reputation is highly important particular for professionals and those in the public eye.
The interests of justice- and justice burns in us- should not suffer offhand taunt of victimhood.
Lt General Flynn is fortunate in having such a good lawyer in Ms Powell which reflects admirably on the good and better side of human nature.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...
Graham Hill
Nelson
3 May 2020