Trump’s pardon of General Mike Flynn is getting a new and closer look since Sidney Powell’s GA plea deal...
Newsweek
The @7Veritas4 account on X, which frequently posts legal updates regarding Trump, wrote: "Why is he having an aneurysm over Sidney Powell?
"Not just because she flipped in Georgia this week. It's also because of a potential conflict of interest that could put Michael Flynn's pardon in jeopardy...something the DOJ is very interested in. Buckle up."
Lindy Li, a political commentator, and Democratic National Committee member, wrote: "Sidney Powell is the missing link between Mike Flynn's quid pro quo pardon from Trump and his sudden decision shortly thereafter to aggressively promote election denial and help incite a terrorist insurrection. Watch this space."
Former FBI official Peter Strzok, who worked on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation before being fired over an alleged political bias against Trump, also noted while sharing the former president's statement about Powell: "Apropos of nothing, let's talk about the pardon I gave Mike Flynn."
Of course it was Trump himself who let the cat out of the bag...
emptywheel
Immediately after Trump claims Sidney Powell would have been conflicted (because of what? Trump doesn’t say), the former President turns to the Thanksgiving pardon he gave to confessed agent of Turkey, Mike Flynn.
(snip)
It is quite literally impossible for Flynn to have been innocent of making any unlawful false statements, because the things he said in the process of reneging on his plea deal completely contradicted things he had said under oath earlier. The Flynn pardon was easily the most expansive of any pardons Trump gave (perhaps save the clemency for Roger Stone found in Trump’s desk drawer, which could pardon Stone for murdering someone on Fifth Avenue for all we know). It had to be written that broadly to prevent Judge Sullivan from referring Flynn for perjury before his court. The pardon covered not just the lies Flynn told the FBI on January 24, 2017, it also covered claims Flynn made before an EDVA grand jury and in plea colloquies before Sullivan.
So here we are, just days after DOJ submitted a response to Trump’s claim of absolute immunity that argued — among other things — that a presidential pardon given as part of a quid pro quo would be unlawful, and Trump is offering up not just that Sidney Powell wasn’t his attorney in November 2020 when he claimed she was, but that she would have been conflicted — apparently because of her representation of Mike Flynn! — from being his attorney.
These people can’t turn around without committing some kind of crime….