Attorney generalWilliam Barr is said to have launched a review of second disgraced ally of Donald Trump, former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
As controversy continues to rage over the department of justice’s decision to seek a lesser sentence for Republican operative Roger Cohen after the online intervention of the president, it was reported the attorney general was now also reviewing the prosecution of the former army general.
The 61-year-old who spent less than a month as the president’s national security adviser before he was forced to resign, pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian envoy.
He was charged following a plea deal with prosecutors working with special counsel Robert Mueller, who launched an investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election, and possible collusion with Trump campaign.
Flynn’s sentencing has been delayed several times. In January, prosecutors indicated they were seeking a six-month jail term for him.
Yet a week later, Flynn withdrew his guilty plea, alleging prosecutors had acted in bad faith.
“Michael Flynn hereby moves to withdraw his plea because of the government’s bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement,” wrote lawyer Sidney Powell.
On Friday, the New York Timessaid Mr Barr, who on Thursday gave an interview to ABC News in which he said he found it impossible to do his job amid the president’s tweets, an appearance many suspect was the administration’s attempt at damage control, was reviewing other cases.
It said among the cases he had requested be reopened was that of Flynn.
“The review is highly unusual and could trigger more accusations of political interference by top justice department officials into the work of career prosecutors,” the article said.
It added that Mr Barr had installed a handful of outside prosecutors to broadly review the handling of other politically sensitive national-security cases in the US attorney’s office in Washington.
The DoJ has yet to comment on the matter.
Earlier this, all four prosecutors associated with the Stone case quit, or removed themselves from that specific project.
Meanwhile, on Friday the president claimed he had the right to interfere in a case if he wished.
“This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as president, the legal right to do so,’ he tweeted. “I do, but I have so far chosen not to.”
