Gen. Flynn Gets --- a Recess --- and now at 11:53am CDT a Delay in His Sentencing

Just reported. 11am CDT

Former National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has been sentenced to ... nothing yet.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan is really turning the screws.

Telling Flynn that if sentencing proceeds today, he can't guarantee a no prison sentence.

Pete Williams of MSNBC calling Sullivan a "rattlesnake" judge. 😂

Basically, Sullivan is strongly suggesting Flynn postpone sentencing in order to keep cooperating, but Robert Mueller basically has said there's not much more Flynn can help him with.

The judge even asked prosecutors if Flynn could be charged with treason.

Why doesn't the judge order that they just rack him up? Geez Louise!

Prosecutors recommended 0-6 months.

What's the judge up to?

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11:30am CDT
Pete Williams, MSNBC: "[Judge] is predicably unpredicable."

Andrea Mitchell and the other hosts and reporters on MSNBC, not exactly a pro-Trump network, really seem to think Flynn shouldn't get prison time based on the prosecutors' recommendations.

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[big][b]Trouble with giving Flynn a tough sentence AFTER he cooperated in 19 interviews with Mueller's team is what other defendant would cooperate knowing that cooperating ultimately means didly?[/b][/big]

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Speculating: Maybe Sullivan wants to sentence Flynn to prison to force Trump's hand on a potential pardon so that Trump would take a political hit by giving Flynn a pardon?

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11:43am CDT:

They're all back in the court room.

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11:45am CDT

Sullivan walking back his "treason" remark.

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11:48am CDT

Prosecutors tell Sullivan they have no reason to believe Flynn committed treason.

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Flynn's done some creepy things since leaving the military; leading chants of "Lock her up") and especially regarding Turkey. I don't care much about him talking to the Russian ambassador after Trump had won the election. But if Mueller's team is recommending a sentence of no jail time to six months at most, perhaps Sullivan should go with that and give Flynn probation. But certainly not more than what the prosecution wants.

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11:53am CDT

Flynn's defense team takes up offer to delay sentencing.

So no sentencing today.

Guess that means Flynn's lawyers will now make even more money.

Prosecutors will probably now work behind the scenes to get Sullivan onboard with no prison term.

90 day continuance.

All this drama! And no resolution.

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hlpflwthat · M

Sullivan is DC born & raised. Howard man. 34 years on the bench. Appointed by Reagan. He's seen it all. If he thinks this is beyond the pale, this is beyond the pale.

We have become almost immune to the buffoonery seeping from 1600 Pennsylvania. This man was our [b][i]National Security Advisor.[/i][/b]

SevIsPamprinYouAlways · 56-60, F

[image deleted]@hlpflwthat

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@hlpflwthat

I'd like to see Trump impeached.

But I [b]don't[/b] like a judge essentially deciding to give someone a longer prison sentence because of crimes he think the defendant committed but was neither charged with nor convicted on.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@beckyromero The flip side of this message might be. "Flipping on Trump for a plea deal may backfire. Keep your mouth shut!"🤐

Picklebobble2 · 56-60, M

AHH ! Enlightenment !!
BBC 6'Oclock news U.S. Political correspondent John Sopel has just been on and from the sounds of it the Judge wants to sentence Flynn as a TRAITOR.
Which kinda makes a mockery of the whole plea bargain thing if true !

Looking for the judge's summing up now....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46609628

View 6 more replies »

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Picklebobble2 [quote]Judge wants to sentence Flynn as a TRAITOR.[/quote]

That's what it sounded like.

But to be [i]sentenced[/i] as a traitor, you actually do need to be [i]tried and convicted of treason[/i] first. Apparently, Judge Sullivan wanted to do away with that little inconvenience. Someone must have straighted him out about that when they went into chambers.

MistyCee

@beckyromero I'll bet he might have accepted a treason plea though. He sounds a little testy.

daisymay · 51-55, T

@beckyromero [quote]Someone must have straighted him out about that when they went into chambers[/quote]

Sure. 🙄

SW-User

This sounds like judicial overreach. If all parties have approached the judge with an agreement and are ready to have the matter adjudicated, the judge should do the job in front of them.

MistyCee

@SW-User keep in mind, Flynn asked for the recess because he was afraid Sullivan would throw the book at him.

The job in front of the judge isn't to sign off on bad plea deals, and he's doing it, even if he's also sending a message to the DOJ and the White House at the same time.

MistyCee

No clue, really, but jpain in the neck judges like that drive lawyers nuts.

View 1 more replies »

hlpflwthat · M

@beckyromero How so?

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@hlpflwthat [quote]How so?[/quote]

[quote]Again and again, both during and after the trial in this case, the government was caught making false representations and not meeting its discovery obligations.[/quote]
- Judge Sullivan, after dismissing the ethics conviction of former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska in April 2009.

A jury had found Stevens guilty on seven felony counts and Sullivan sentenced Stevens just days before the 2008 election, which Stevens then lost. That loss prevented the Republicans from reaching 60 seats (which would have enough to stop any Democrat filibusters).

Sullivan appointed a special prosecutor to investigate whether the government lawyers who ran the Stevens case should themselves be prosecuted for criminal wrongdoing. Four were charged, one of whom then committed suicide.

But if the government was "caught making false representations" and was caught "again and again" during the course of the trial, why didn't Sullivan heed the calls of the defense attorneys and declare a mistrial or throw out the charges altogether?

He understandably showed a lot anger after having been made a fool of and according to the [i]New York Times[/i] "delivered a broad warning about what he said was a 'troubling tendency' he had observed among prosecutors to stretch the boundaries of ethics restrictions and conceal evidence to win cases."

No kidding, Judge Sherlock. You just figured that out?

A better judge wouldn't have let the prosecution get away with what they did in the first place to win a Senate election.

hlpflwthat · M

@beckyromero And would have let a dirty senator walk scott free, IMO. Stevens was dirty and everybody knew it. It wasn't like Sullivan was lead prosecutor.

And so far as Senatorial filibusters go, no Republican is any position to bitch about [b][i]that[/i][/b] these days - are they.

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Picklebobble2 · 56-60, M

The Judge is trying to be careful because he knows he'll be setting a precedent that others will have to follow.
If Flynn appeals the verdict the Appeals court may change the sentencing radically !

beckyromero · 36-40, F

@Picklebobble2 [quote]If Flynn appeals the verdict the Appeals court may change the sentencing radically ![/quote]

It's been reported that his guilty plea included an agreement that he would [i]not[/i] appeal the sentence.

Picklebobble2 · 56-60, M

@beckyromero So there's the Judge's problem right there !

MistyCee

@Picklebobble2 I think there has to be a bit more to it than that, honestly. I've no doubt the judge is being careful, but I doubt its just about the terms of the plea agreement vis a vis no appealing.

lorne13 · 61-69, M

Law enforcement

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