Little chance there is that the public will sort through what happened this past day to understand just how wrong it is that the DOJ dropped charges against Michael Flynn.
How damaging to the nation.
How many people did President Trump have to put into place in order for this to happen? How many people who would not do it had to be fired and someone brought in who would do the dirty deed before justice could be circumvented?
Start with Attorney General William Barr. Consider Jeff Jensen. Jensen's hiring wasn't even announced initially. But it "emerged" -- as the press puts it -- that he was tabbed to to investigate the handling of the Flynn case. Is it not clear to us that he was brought in to free Flynn and just short months later that is exactly what has happened? And, do not forget Timothy Shea. Months ago, with some drama, Barr's friend was maneuvered into position as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. It was he who yesterday informed the judge that the DOJ wants charges against Flynn dropped.
Never mind that Flynn had twice pleaded guilty. Never mind that it is unprecedented that the prosecution would move to drop charges against someone who had already pleaded guilty. Never mind that law experts around the country are amazed at what is happening.
It's now happening.
"I've never seen anything like this," said one law expert, in a sentiment echoed by others.
The idea in dropping the charges against Flynn is that he was tricked into his confession. Are we to say he is a dupe? He was accomplished in life, a lieutenant general in the Army who rose to become the nation's national security advisor. Take someone like that and get them to confess? He knows if he does so, he is going to face jail time, and he pleads guilty, anyway? He has a lawyer by his side and he pleads guilty, anyway? And, now omeone comes along and tells us he didn't know what he was doing and he was tricked and the whole thing wasn't fair and we should just drop the charges against him?
Go back and remember this Michael Flynn -- the whole story. He was the president's first national security advisor. He didn't last a month before he resigned -- the shortest tenure of any national security advisor in history -- after a storm of outrage that he lied about relationships with Russia.
The president pleaded with FBI acting director James Comey to not go after Flynn, you might remember. And, Comey said, No. Not going to happen.
And, Trump fired Comey, perhaps the first of the firings that brought about appointments in order to accommodate what is now happening. You don't need much of a memory to recall there were -- and, still are -- calls to throw Comey in jail.
How reminiscent, then, to hear the president tweeting, "I hope that a big price is going to be paid" by those who went after Flynn. "It's treason; It's treason," Trump tweeted yesterday.
One wonders if Brandon Van Grack will be one of those Trump seeks to have thrown in prison. Early today -- before the news that the DOJ wanted charges to be dropped -- Van Grack resigned from his role as a lead prosecutor in the case. Whether he resigned in protest or was asked to step down was unclear.
But, the conservative news of the day was quick to paint him as a villain. "After Evidence of Corruption, DOJ Prosecutor Withdraws From Flynn Case," The Federalist wrote.
And, what did prosecutors -- that probably means Grack -- do? They brought him in for questioning and he ended up saying he had lied. For this, it is not Flynn who should be prosecuted, but Van Grack? Something is up with that.
When Jensen came in, he forced prosecutors to release documents to Flynn's lawyers, even though providing such documents to the defense is not a normal practice. In this case, it gave them opportunity to scour everything in search of a reason to get Flynn off the hook.
The Associated Press reported that the DOJ ended up agreeing with the defense counsel that the interview with Flynn's lawyers never should have taken place because there never were any inappropriate contacts with the Russians, in the first place.
It is worthy to run that by us again: There never should have been an investigation -- is that what we are saying? -- because Flynn was innocent? It does so seem that you can have questions about a person's innocence, and if you do, you should be allowed to take him in and question him. But, now we are saying that that is improper procedure, and therefore whatever Flynn told them is inadmissible evidence?
And, whoever did interview him needs to be tossed in jail themselves? "I hope that a big price is going to be paid," President Trump tweets.
If we let the guilty go free, and instead toss in jail those who dared to bring them to justice, how has the justice of America fallen.
"We're not suppose to have one system of justice for the President's friends and another system for the rest of us," tweeted political pundit Renato Mariotti.
A nation cannot long stand when its leaders are set free for their crimes while those who would bring them to justice are sent to prison in their place.
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