Perspectives: The DOJ's Dismissal of Michael Flynn's Case
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From the Center
If Michael Flynn did nothing wrong, why didn’t he tell the truth?
With the Justice Department’s move Thursday to drop its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, it’s useful to go back to a basic question: If Flynn did nothing wrong when he called the Russian ambassador on Dec. 29, 2016, the day President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for interfering in the presidential election, why did he conceal it?
One issue from the beginning was whether Flynn’s call to Ambassador Sergey Kislyak violated the Logan Act, which bars private U.S. citizens from trying to influence another country about...
From the Right
Ending the Flynn False-Statement Case Was the Right Judgment
Judgments and rules are two different things. Rules are, or should be, clear bright lines that can produce yes-or-no answers. Judgments are more complicated than that. They need not be as standardless as Potter Stewart’s famous definition of pornography (“I know it when I see it”), but judgments typically involve a good deal more weighing and balancing of multiple factors, sometimes in ways that don’t reduce to a mathematical formula. The Justice Department’s decision to drop the Michael Flynn false-statement prosecution, three years after he pleaded guilty, might not pass...
From the Left
The Appalling Damage of Dropping the Michael Flynn Case
Criminal law specialists and members of the law enforcement community are tough to really shock. But the Justice Department’s announcement that it would drop criminal charges against Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, has provoked, in addition to outrage, a sense of utter demoralization among them. They’ve never seen such a thing before. After all, Mr. Flynn twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I.
But it’s important to understand why all Americans should be not just shocked but outraged. It’s not just because Mr. Flynn won’t go...
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May 21st, 2024
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