Yesterday, Bill Roy Cohn Barr (hereafter referred to as BRCB) made
an unprecedented motion to dismiss the conviction of Michael Flynn.
Please remember how that conviction came about. Flynn had inappropriate
contacts with the Russian ambassador. Then Flynn lied to Pence about
his contacts. Then tRUMP fired Flynn for lying to Pence. Then Pence
pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators. Flynn was scheduled
to be sentenced on his guilty plea on 12/18/18. Prior to
sentencing his attorneys submitted a sentencing memo saying that Flynn
was unfairly tricked into pleading guilty. At that hearing the judge
made it clear that he would not guarantee that Flynn would not be
incarcerated. The judge said it appeared that Flynn may have betrayed
his country. The judge asked if Flynn wanted to withdraw his guilty
plea. Flynn did not. The judge asked Flynn if he was pleading guilty
because he was guilty. Flynn answered "yes." Please remember that
Flynn not only pleaded guilty twice, but he was required to agree to a
written detailed statement of facts describing his crime.
Now along comes BRCB. He was previously excoriated by a huge
number of former U.S. attorneys as well as many legal scholars for
contradicting his line prosecutors' sentencing recommendation for Roger
Stone. Up to that point, no one could recall an attorney general doing
such a thing. Now BRCB has his previous improper interference in
the judicial system as a precedent. But this is far worse. And it is
scary. Barr is literally the consigliori for the tRUMP criminal
enterprise. He is in a position to help his criminal friends and
prosecute his political enemies. This sounds very much like Stalin's
courts of justice.
Barr's motion to dismiss does not deny that Flynn lied. He
merely asserts that the lies were not "material." This is a defense
which had been available to Flynn at any time. When he pleaded guilty
his attorneys knew that materiality was an element of the crime.
This story is barely 24 hours old. I predict that the outrage in
the legal community will be far greater than the outrage over the Stone
imbroglio. I am hoping that BRCB suffers the same fate before the bar
of justice as did Roy Cohn, tRUMP's hero. Roy Cohn was disbarred by
the New York State bar for unethical and unprofessional conduct. One of
the charges against Cohn was that he put a pen into a comatose
client's hand and scrawled a signature on a will. The will made a huge
bequest to Cohn. I will be asking my colleagues who are much more
knowledgeable about the canons of ethics whether Barr may be subject to
disbarment proceedings.
And how about this for closing the circle. In 1979, Roger
Stone was employed by the Reagan for president campaign. During that
time Stone stayed at Roy Cohn's townhouse in Manhattan. Cohn had a
scheme to put John Anderson on the Liberal Party ballot for president.
This would presumably split the opposition to Reagan. It worked.
Reagan carried New York State with 46% of the vote. Stone told the
story that at one point Cohn gave him a suitcase to be delivered to a
prominent attorney for the Liberal Party. Cohn told Stone not to open
the suitcase. Years later Stone said that he assumed that the contents
of the suitcase were a bribe.
So tRUMP wanted his Roy Cohn He has him. His Roy Cohn
interfered in the criminal case involving Cohn's old buddy Roger
Stone. In my view Roger Stone will never see the inside of a jail
cell. Either tRUMP will pardon Roy Cohn's buddy, or he will have his
consigliori do the dirty work. I said it long ago, this will go down in
history as by far the most corrupt presidency ever. God willing it
will end soon. And if it does, a new attorney general may look into the
activities of the tRUMP continuing criminal enterprise.
On that optimistic note, stay safe.
Richard
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