President Donald Trump's former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, can't force a trial-court judge to grant the U.S. Justice Department's surprise request to dismiss the criminal case against him, a federal appeals court ruled.
The decision Monday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington followed a rehearing of an earlier decision in favor of Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents in the early days of the Russia probe.
The ruling is a victory for U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is presiding over Flynn's case and accepted his guilty plea for lying to federal agents, and raises the prospect of politically embarrassing hearings as the president runs for re-election. Sullivan had argued that he should be allowed to probe whether the Justice Department was dropping the case as a favor to a Trump ally.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the case against Flynn as well as the underlying investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election to help him win. The case has become a cause celebre among conservative commentators, who claim Flynn was unfairly targeted by Obama administration holdovers.
Flynn's attorney, Sidney Powell, didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the decision.
The appeals court said the order Flynn sought directing Sullivan to act is rarely used and only in circumstances where a petitioner has no other recourse. In Flynn's case, Sullivan hasn't yet held a hearing on the government's motion to dismiss the case.
Flynn "has not cited any case in which our court, or any court, issued the writ to compel a district court to decide an undecided motion in a particular way -- i.e., when the district court might yet decide the motion in that way on its own," the majority said.
Attorney General William Barr's Justice Department said in May it was dropping the case because it determined Flynn's false statements weren't "material" to the agents' investigation into Russian interference in the election. It also said the FBI agents Flynn lied to essentially set him up to fail -- claims repeatedly echoed by Trump. Long after pleading guilty, Flynn sought to withdraw his plea and the Justice Department and Trump backed him.
Flynn pleaded guilty in the early days of the Russia investigation. He sought to withdraw his plea and dismiss the case before the Justice Department said it was walking away from the prosecution.
John Gleeson, the former federal judge and mob prosecutor appointed by Sullivan to argue against dismissal, said the government's motion was improper and should be denied.
