Special counsel Robert Mueller is asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to move forward with the sentencing of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, nearly 10 months after he pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his Russia contacts.
The development Monday comes after repeated delays in Flynn’s sentencing.
“The matter is now ready to be scheduled for sentencing,” Mueller’s prosecutors wrote in a joint filing with Flynn’s defense attorneys on Monday. They requested that Judge Emmet D. Sullivan set a date for sentencing, suggesting Nov. 28 or seven business days after that.
Mueller’s team had previously sought to delay Flynn’s sentencing four times, signaling that his cooperation was still needed in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference.
The latest development indicates that Mueller believes he has gotten all that he can or needs from Flynn in the nearly 10 months since he admitted to lying to FBI investigators about his Russia contacts. While Mueller will not be precluded from calling Flynn to testify at any forthcoming trials, his sentencing will effectively mark an end to his cooperation in the probe. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Justice Department officials are blowing the whistle on U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Now we know why Mueller has continually delayed Mike Flynn’s sentencing: To silence the retired General and keep the influential Conservative out of politics and the crucial midterm elections.
In May, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Flynn canceled a campaign appearance in Montana for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing. Flynn cited an unspecified “family emergency,” as the reason for scrapping the appearance.
But that family ’emergency,’ according to well-placed sources in the Justice Department, was sparked by Mueller and his team’s illegal threats to indict Flynn — a second time — for obstruction of justice. What was Flynn’s supposed crime? Endorsing and campaigning for GOP candidates politically aligned with Trump. Flynn had just endorsed Congressional hopeful Omar Navarro in California and he planned to remain active in the run up to the 2018 midterms before Mueller illegally threatened the retired Army general, official said.
“Mueller threatened Flynn with new charges and prison time,” one Justice Department source said. “He claimed Flynn was trying to elect Trump-like candidates to secure himself a (trump presidential) pardon.
The tactics don’t sit very well with many (prosecutors) at Justice.”
That’s because Mueller’s tact was almost as absurd as it was illegal, according to Justice Department insiders who are now stepping forward to blow the whistle on the Special Counsel’s office.
The Special Counsel and his team have violated laws that far exceed the scope and range of the crime Flynn has plead guilty to.
“Just because you plead out to a felony does not mean you forfeit your Constitutional rights,” one Justice source said. “Mueller is abusing his position and manipulating Flynn.”
Flynn has plead out to a charge of lying to the FBI and awaits sentencing, which has been postponed by Mueller several times with little or no explanation.
But Flynn’s plans to campaign for GOP incumbents and newcomers in the 2018 election had also — again illegally — been sidelined by Mueller.
And that type of tampering, coercion and suppression is very illegal — breaching several federal laws — per federal statutes and Justice Department officials.
“Mueller has broken laws here,” one FBI official said, noting the breached laws dwarf Flynn’s offense. “These are felonies. His office should be investigated.”
What felonies did Mueller and his cohorts shatter? Per the Justice Department and well-placed DOJ officials, certain election-related felonies apply but certainly tenets of witness tampering and coercion, wire fraud could apply among other violations, officials said.
Coercion of political activity 18 U.S.C. § 610 is an anti-intimidation statute enacted to provide additional protections against political manipulation of the federal workforce.
The statute makes it a crime to intimidate, threaten, command, or coerce any employee of the executive branch to induce the victim to engage or not engage in any political activity.
Mueller is empowered by and under the federal umbrella of the executive branch, as are his team members.
The statute also prohibits attempts to intimidate and coerce and it applies to all elections –
federal, state, and local. Violations of Section 610 are punishable by imprisonment for up to three years.
Section 610 expressly includes within the broad phrase “any political activity” any conduct that relates to voting, to contributing, or to campaigning. Specifically, Section 610 provides that “any
political activity” includes, but is not limited to: (1) voting or not voting for any candidate in any election; (2) making or refusing to make any political contribution; and (3) working or refusing to work on behalf of any candidate. The statute thus encompasses intimidation directed at inducing any form of political action.
DOJ sources also point out likely violations by the Special Counsel for conspiracy against rights and deprivation of constitutional rights: 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242. Section 241 makes it a ten-year felony to “conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate” any person in the free exercise of any
right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States” – including the right to vote. The statute covers a conspiracy to misuse state authority to prevent qualified voters from
voting for any candidate in any election.
In a nutshell, that’s textbook voter suppression. And while there is no federal criminal statute that directly prohibits voter suppression, the conspiracy against rights statute has been successfully used
to prosecute voting-related conspiracies, according to the DOJ.
And while not as widely applied, the statue addressing intimidation of voters: 18 U.S.C. § 594 prohibits intimidating, threatening, or coercing anyone, or attempting to do so, for the purpose of interfering with an individual’s right to vote or not vote in any election held solely or in
part to elect a federal candidate.
The operative words in Section 594 are “intimidates,” “threatens,” and “coerces.” The scienter element requires proof that the actor intended to force voters to act against their will by placing
them in fear of losing something of value. The feared loss might be something tangible, such as money or economic benefits, or intangible, such as liberty or safety.
“There are many statutes that could apply here, depending on the detail of the threats made by Mueller’s office,” one DOJ veteran said. “This might be something they are doing to all witnesses, you’d have to investigate it.”
And Flynn’s ability to earn money. And exercise his Constitutional rights as an American.
The GOP candidate in Montana, Downing, referred to Flynn as an American patriot. Downing was one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.
He lost.
At the time of Flynn’s cancelation, Downing spokesman Kevin Gardner said the campaign would reschedule Flynn’s appearance. That, of course, never happened.
Losing Flynn’s personal and endorsement in person certainly factored into Downing’s loss in the June primary. It certainly did not help.
Mueller made sure of that , and in essence, politicized with the midterms by not allowing Flynn to campaign for viable GOP candidates and allow the election cycle to run a normal, unobstructed process free from Mueller’s tampering and suppression.
But that likely was the entire point.
But hat does coercing, suppressing, threatening the voting and Constitutional rights of an American have to do with Russia any how, Mr. Mueller?
You were appointed to investigate Russia, last time we checked.
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