Justice Department bid to abandon Michael Flynn’s conviction goes before appeals court

A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday takes up the Justice Department's effort to order a judge to immediately dismiss its prosecution of President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn in a politically charged case that tests the power of the independent judiciary. Flynn, joined by the Justice Department, wants the appeals court to force U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to quickly close the case and put a stop to Sullivan’s examination of the government’s unusual decision to drop the charges against the retired three-star general. Flynn was the highest-ranking Trump adviser convicted in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his pre-inauguration contacts with Russia’s ambassador. The appeals court hearing Friday comes days after a former judge Sullivan appointed to argue against the Justice Department characterized its plan to abandon the case as a “gross abuse of prosecutorial power.” The highly unusual parallel case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit raises questions about the scope of judicial power to check the Trump administration and whether a judge can sentence a defendant the government no longer wants to prosecute. The three-judge panel reviewing the matter on Friday is made up of Judges Karen Henderson, Robert Wilkins and Neomi Rao...MORE