Friday, December 1, 2017

Dershowitz on What the Flynn Plea Deal Means



Alan Dershowitz tells Politico:
A bought witness who has pleaded guilty to lying will not have much credibility. He is only valuable if he can provide self-proving information or leads. What I don’t understand is why Flynn would lie about urging the Russians to veto or delay the Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements. That lame-duck resolution wrongly tied the hands of the incoming president and the request was entirely proper. Perhaps Flynn mistakenly thought the Logan Act, which prohibits unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments in relation to a dispute with the United States, was still good law—which it isn’t.

 Alex Whiting, professor at Harvard Law School, adds:
Flynn’s plea and cooperation agreement is a very significant development in the Mueller investigation for at least three reasons. First, Flynn admits that when he spoke with Russian Ambassador Kislyak in December 2016, in violation of the Logan Act, about sanctions imposed on Russia and a vote concerning Israeli settlements, he did so under the direction of senior Trump transition team officials. It is difficult to believe that both Trump and Pence were unaware of Flynn’s interventions with the Russians. Second, it seems that Flynn got a very good deal today, indicating that he is offering extremely important information as part of his cooperation.
Of course, if Flynn fails to fulfill his end of the bargain and does not provide full cooperation, Mueller can tear up the agreement and charge him with all available crimes. But the fact that Mueller agreed to just one charge with a low penalty indicates that Flynn has a lot to offer. Trump officials and the president himself have to be feeling extremely nervous about this development. After all, today’s plea is important for the ongoing investigation of obstruction of justice by Trump. Remember that Trump went to great lengths to try to shut down the Flynn investigation. Now we may know why. If today’s reports that Flynn has direct evidence against Trump are accurate, it would suggest that Trump was seeking to end the Flynn probe to save himself, and that would plainly be obstruction of justice. This investigation still has a long way to go, and it seems likely that additional officials will be getting a knock on the door sooner or later from Mueller’s team.
 -RW

2 comments:

  1. Time-Traveling Michael Flynn Colludes with Russians in December to Interfere with Election in November

    http://www.unz.com/isteve/time-travelin-michael-flynn-colludes-on-election-with-russians-in-december/

    ReplyDelete
  2. When will Mueller be prosecuted over Uranium One?

    ReplyDelete