Kamala’s stealth campaign: Media now boosting her VP chances

For someone who is said not to be campaigning for the vice-presidential slot, Kamala Harris is running a pretty effective campaign.

Three major media outlets are essentially anointing her the front-runner in a process in which no one really knows who the front-runner is, since it comes down to a judgment call by one man.
But whatever Joe Biden may be privately thinking, the California senator is shrewdly pulling off the running-without-appearing-to-run maneuver. Or the Biden team may simply be touting her to journalists as a kind of trial balloon. That’s how murky the process is, and always has been.
“Why Kamala Harris Isn’t Clamoring to be Biden’s Running Mate,” says the headline on a New York Times piece. Clamoring isn’t a good look for someone who wants to be tapped as the number two. Having the pundits say you’re at the top of the short list, if there is such a list, is the cool move.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t potential problems with Harris as Biden’s pick -- or with the quadrennial veepstakes speculation in which the press often goes astray. The New York Post wrongly reported that John Kerry had chosen Dick Gephardt in 2004, and no one saw John McCain picking Sarah Palin in 2008.
The Times assures us that Kamala “has kept a noticeably lower profile than other possible contenders,” and that those close to Biden “have remarked about how little they have heard from Ms. Harris and her allies.”
And yet Politico somehow found out that “even before Harris ended her own campaign last year, aides said she and Biden were already stealing warm moments together.”

Politico goes a tad further in declaring that “Biden aides, surrogates and major donors see her as the best fit at the onset of the process — at least on paper — to join him atop the Democratic ticket.” Ladies and gentlemen, articles like this don’t appear by accident.
The Washington Post, playing catchup yesterday, hedged its bets a bit:
“Two prospects with national experience who are significantly younger than Biden are emerging as the early leaders in the eyes of top Biden allies, according to interviews with a half-dozen people in frequent contact with the campaign”: Kamala and Amy Klobuchar.
The Post quotes a source as saying “there are no strong internal front-runners” -- which of course undercuts this whole exercise -- but says that the two senators “are seen as tested politicians who experienced the rigors of a national campaign alongside Biden during the Democratic primaries, understand the inner workings of Congress and are ideologically similar to the presumptive nominee.”
I disagree with the last point -- Harris is far more liberal, Klobuchar a self-described moderate -- but have long felt Biden would pick a campaign rival because that person will have been vetted. No surprises is the way to go.
It’s worth noting that Harris’ campaign imploded early amid mismanagement and missteps, while Klobuchar had a strong showing in New Hampshire and lasted through Super Tuesday.

Obviously, Klobuchar’s Midwestern roots could help in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, while Harris could help boost African-American turnout -- to the extent that running mates matter at all. I don’t think Mike Pence and Tim Kaine had much impact on the last election. But Biden did just fine among black voters in the primaries while Harris struggled.
One disadvantage for Harris is the way she pummeled the former vice president over busing in an early debate. But Politico says that “Jill Biden -- who as recently as March described Harris’ attack as a “punch to the gut” -- said they’ve mulled ways for her to telegraph that it wasn’t a deal breaker for the California senator’s chances.”
Politico gets a quote from James Clyburn, who is pushing for an African-American on the ticket: “Joe Biden is a big boy. I’ve never seen Joe have any animus toward Kamala for what may have been said during the campaign.”
The Times and the Post both say Al Sharpton has been promoting Harris, as well as Stacey Abrams, and everyone notes Kamala’s standard line that she’d be “honored” to serve. (Abrams appeared with Biden last night on Lawrence O’Donnell’s MSNBC show, which sounds like a tryout.)
A downside for Klobuchar, says the Post, is “news reports about her poor treatment of staff members have circulated widely in the party, raising questions about her management style.” The old salad-with-a-comb rap is back.
This is clearly a more important pick than most, since Biden is 77 and win or lose, his running mate will become a front-runner for 2024.
But in the end, two things are certain: Many of the media’s VP predictions will be wrong, and the election will be decided by Donald Trump, Joe Biden and the coronavirus.

Susan Rice 'would say yes' if asked to be Biden's running mate

Former national security advisor Susan Rice Thursday said she "certainly would say yes" if former Vice President Joe Biden asked her to be his running mate in the presidential election.

“I’m humbled and honored to be among the extremely accomplished women who are reportedly being considered in that regard,” Rice told PBS.
Biden is listed on a memo declassified this week by acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell of former Obama administration officials who may have seen documents related to the “unmasking” of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
While Rice isn’t on the list, she has admitted to making unmasking requests during her time as national security adviser.
All of the officials listed on the memo had the authorization to make unmasking requests -- which is a common practice in intelligence work and numbers in the thousands across administrations, including more than 10,000 by the Trump administration – and being listed on the memo doesn’t necessarily mean they did anything wrong.
“The allegation is that somehow the Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes. That’s absolutely false,” Rice said in a 2017 interview, according to Bloomberg.
Flynn’s name was unmasked after he was intercepted by U.S. intelligence in December 2016 during a phone call with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period.

Flynn was fired as national security adviser in 2017 and eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the phone call. Earlier this month, the Justice Department decided to drop the case against him.
Rice told PBS she wanted to "enable [Biden] to become the next president of the United States in any way I can," but added that she's not necessarily campaigning for the role.
Rice is included among a long list of women Biden is reportedly looking to for a running mate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Rep. Stacey Abrams, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sen. Kamala Harris are also on the list.
Earlier this year, Biden promised to choose a woman for his vice presidential pick.

Trump wants FBI’s original ‘302’ report on Flynn case, says former adviser 'persecuted'

President Trump late Thursday night inquired about the fate of the FBI’s “302” report on the Michael Flynn case that officials say vanished after the president’s first national security adviser met with federal agents in January 2017.
“Where is the 302? It is missing. Was it stolen or destroyed? General Flynn is being persecuted!” Trump tweeted.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo that the original 302 document — which typically summarizes witness interviews with agents — was “missing.” Nunes said the document is where Flynn is accused of lying to investigators.
Bartiromo pointed out that federal agents usually summarize their interviews with subjects on forms known as 302s.
Nunes laid out what he said he knows about the original report. He said it was written and transcribed and recalled FBI sources saying, “Look, there’s nothing to see here, Flynn wasn’t lying.”
“So we knew this at the beginning of 2017, so you can imagine my astonishment when it began to leak out in the press that General Flynn was being busted for lying to the FBI,” he said. “And that, that’s what the Mueller team — the dirty Mueller team — that’s what they were going to bust him on.”
Nunes said the original report that was used to initially brief Congress vanished. “It’s gone. Poof. It’s out of — we can’t find it.”
“And I told people at the highest levels of the FBI and the DOJ, I said, what are you doing here? Like, we have, on the record, from the highest-level people that he didn't lie to the FBI,” he said.
Late last year, Flynn’s attorney sought “every document” pertaining to the interview with agents after allegations that FBI officials manipulated the original 302 report. His attorney asserted that separate handwritten notes from the interview drafted by since-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok and another agent are plainly inconsistent with one another, as well as the final FBI 302 that underpinned Flynn's guilty plea for one count of making false statements to investigators.
Although the government has insisted that the FBI's after-the-fact edits to the 302 report were "largely grammatical and stylistic," Flynn's lawyer argued that they were in fact highly substantive and improper alterations that inaccurately made it appear that Flynn had issued blanket denials to agents' questions.
Trump has been trying to go on the offensive after a string of developments he says bolstered his claim that the Russian collusion investigation conducted was nothing more than a political witch hunt.
Trump took the remarkable step earlier Thursday to ask Sen. Lindsey Graham, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to call former President Barack Obama to testify in front of the committee. Graham played down the request and Obama later tweeted, “Vote.”
Last week, Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department dismissed the case against Flynn, who was seen as the key prosecution witness from Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign.
Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, wrote in The Hill that one of the reasons Flynn would not have been convicted is because federal agents “went out of their way to deceive Flynn about the purpose of the interview, at which they hoped to trip him up.”
Flynn “was not given the customary advice of rights — the FBI, after officials acknowledged among themselves that they owed it to Flynn to advise him that a false statement could be grounds for prosecution, willfully withheld this admonition from him,” McCarthy wrote.
Flynn was not charged with perjury, and he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his previous contact with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak weeks before Trump was to be sworn in. The guilty plea was vacated to one count of making false statements.
Sidney Powell, one of Flynn’s lawyers, told Fox News that FBI agents did their best to hide their investigation and attempted to entrap her client. She mentioned a meeting on Jan. 5, 2017, at the White House that included Obama, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.
Powell said the “whole thing was orchestrated and set up within the FBI, Clapper, Brennan and in the Oval Office meeting that day with President Obama.”
Bartiromo asked Powell if she believed the scandal reached up to Obama, and Powell responded, “Absolutely.”
Obama last week told supporters that with regard o Flynn's case, there was “no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”
Fox News is told even more exculpatory documents are forthcoming, as Barr continues to oversee the DOJ's investigation into the handling of the Flynn case.
Fox News' Gregg Re and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

McConnell predicts 'high likelihood' of new stimulus bill, dismisses Dem proposal as 'parade of absurdities'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told "Special Report with Bret Baier" Thursday that another coronavirus stimulus bill is likely, but dismissed House Democrats' latest $3 trillion proposal as "unsalvageable."
"The president and Senate Republicans are going to be in the same place. We will let you know when we think the time is right to begin to move again," McConnell said. "I think there's a high likelihood we'll do another bill."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged Thursday that the so-called HEROES Act faces long odds of becoming law, but suggested the massive bill could be a starting point for negotiations with the White House and Senate.
"We're putting our offer on the table, we're open to negotiation," Pelosi said. The House is set to vote on the measure Friday.
When Baier asked McConnell why he would not treat the Democratic proposal as a starting point for negotiation, the Kentuckian described it as a "liberal wish list" and "a parade of absurdities that can hardly be taken seriously."
Earlier in the interview, the Majority Leader emphasized that any futher coronavirus aid bill would have to include liability protection for businesses and other organizations that resume operations amid the pandemic.
"Our red line is going to be liability protections for those who are brave enough to begin to open up the economy again in the wake of the trial lawyers who are descending already on hospitals and doctors and businesses as of about a week and a half ago," McConnell said.
"And people have to be brave enough to begin to engage in economic activity," he added. "How about the presidents of universities? Are they willing to open up for the fall or are we going to have another period of time where not only K through 12 students, but potentially college students are still at home? All of those questions need to be answered by the fall."
McConnell also admitted Thursday that he had misspoke earlier this week when he claimed that the Obama administration "did not leave to this administration any kind of game plan for something like this."
"I was wrong, they did leave behind a plan. So I clearly made a mistake in that regard," McConnell said. "As to whether or not the plan was followed, who's the critic and all the rest, I don't have any observation about that because I don't know enough about the details of that, Bret, to comment on it in any detail."
Fox News' Marisa Schulz and Joshua Nelson contributed to this report.

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Pennsylvania health official draws fire after her mother leaves care facility as coronavirus patients return

She or He

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine defended herself Wednesday after reports that her 95-year-old mother relocated from a care facility after Levine said such centers could begin accepting coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals.
Cases of the virus in nursing homes have skyrocketed in Pennsylvania, with about two-thirds of the state's 3,800 deaths being residents of long-term care facilities, PennLive reported.
"My mother requested and my sister and I, as her children, complied to move her to another location during the COVID-19 outbreak," Levine said in a news conference, according to Harrisburg's WHTM-TV. “My mother is 95 years old. She is very intelligent and more than competent to make her own decisions."
But Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano called for Levine’s resignation this week over her handling of nursing home outbreaks, specifically a policy calling for nursing home residents hospitalized with the virus to be returned to the care centers once they’re ready to leave the hospital, according to PennLive.
“Our secretary of health, Dr. Levine, decided that it would be good to allow COVID-positive patients to be returned to elder-care facilities. And as a result of that, it broke out like fire,” Mastriano said during a protest rally Monday.

“Our secretary of health, Dr. Levine, decided that it would be good to allow COVID-positive patients to be returned to elder-care facilities. And as a result of that, it broke out like fire.”
— Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, Republican

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, defended Levine.
“Dr. Levine has done a phenomenal job of making sure that we do what we need to do in keeping Pennsylvanians safe,” he said, according to PennLive. “I think it’s a tribute to her that Pennsylvania has actually done a better job than many of our surrounding states in terms of the infection rate and the death rate.”
Levine announced a strategy this week to help protect care facility residents, which includes mobilizing Pennsylvania's National Guard to provide testing for places unable to do it themselves. And facilities will be required to report testing, cases and deaths using the same system as hospitals.
Levine said all residents who are hospitalized will be tested for the virus before returning home.
“By testing every resident and every staff member in every nursing home, we will be able to pinpoint exactly who has COVID-19, who has been exposed but has no symptoms, and cohort positive cases to prevent further spread,” she said, according to WHTM.

State parties reach out to Arizona GOP after novel virtual convention, staffer says

Several other states have reached out to Arizona’s Republican Party this week after the party ran a virtual state convention last weekend due to the coronavirus, according to a staffer.
More than 1,100 Arizona Republicans participated in Saturday’s convention to vote for the state’s 54 delegates for the national convention this summer in North Carolina.
Communications Director Zach Henry told Fox News while Utah used the same app for electronic voting during their convention a few weeks ago, Arizona was the first state to incorporate live streaming and telephone townhall elements.
“Livestreaming the events of the day and syncing that up with our telephone to allow anyone, anywhere to watch or hear the day's proceedings in real-time was first put into practice on Saturday in Arizona,” he added.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said during the convention that state Chairwoman Kelli Ward not only came up with the virtual model but “the RNC asked her to present this to other state parties and it’s being duplicated across the country and it’s allowing us to deliver delegates to President Trump in a timely manner."
The party used Voatz, a mobile elections platform, and Phoenix-based video production company Visual Impulse to pull off the convention.
Ward called it an "enormous undertaking."
“Never before has a political party attempted to plan and carry out a convention of this scale and magnitude – amid a global pandemic – in a similar virtual manner," she said in a statement. "Yet not only did we succeed in what was previously uncharted territory; we trailblazed the way for others to follow.”

President Trump to visit Pennsylvania amid battle over state’s coronavirus shutdown policies

President Trump plans to be in Pennsylvania on Thursday, three days after asserting on Twitter that the state’s residents have grown frustrated with their Democrat governor’s coronavirus shutdown rules.
“The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now,” the president wrote Monday, “and they are fully aware of what that entails.”
The scheduled trip also follows a protest in late April that saw hundreds of demonstrators gather outside the Statehouse in Harrisburg, where they called for Gov. Tom Wolf to loosen the state’s stay-at-home order.
Trump is scheduled to visit Owens & Minor Inc. in Upper Macungie Township, near Allentown, according to FOX 29 of Philadelphia. The company distributes medical equipment, which became a key commodity during the virus outbreak as the nation’s hospitals grappled with surges in patients.
The president is expected to speak about the nation’s efforts regarding coronavirus testing, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Pennsylvania is considered a key state as Trump looks ahead to the November election. He won the state by only 44,000 votes in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Thursday’s trip will be his 18th visit to the state since taking office, The Morning Call of Allentown reported.
The president may also be looking to improve his job-approval numbers in Pennsylvania, where 45 percent of respondents support his handling of the coronavirus, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
Trump is eager to revive the nation’s economy following quarantines and business shutdowns that have cost millions of Americans their jobs and brought what had been a record-shattering economy to a screeching halt.
“We will defeat this horrible enemy, we will revive our economy, and we will transition into greatness,” the president said Monday, according to Politico. “That’s a phrase you’re going to hear a lot because that’s what’s going to happen.”
Last week, Wolf extended his stay-at-home order to June 4 to parts of the state while saying he would allow 24 counties, mostly in the rural north-central region, to reopen businesses to some degree. He later added 13 western Pennsylvania counties to that list, FOX 29 reported.
But Pennsylvania Republicans and some business owners still accuse Wolf of moving too slowly, the report said.
On Monday, Wolf issued a warning to business owners who defy his orders.
“To those politicians who decide to cave in to this coronavirus, they need to understand the consequences of their cowardly act,” Wolf said, according to FOX 29.
He also threatened to withhold state and federal funding from counties “that put us all at risk by operating illegally,” the report added.
A recent Federal Aviation Administration advisory calls for restricted airspace of 30 nautical miles around Lehigh Valley International Airport between 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., suggesting Trump will be visiting sometime during those hours, the Morning Call reported.

Lawyer appointed by Judge Sullivan to offer arguments in Flynn case already has slammed Trump WH's 'improper political influence'

D.C. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan issued an unusual order Wednesday appointing a law firm partner "to present arguments in opposition to the government's motion to dismiss" the matter -- and to consider whether the court should hold Flynn in contempt for perjury.
The partner, retired federal judge John Gleeson, has openly criticized the Trump administration's handling of Michael Flynn's case, raising concerns that he was selected to improperly bolster Sullivan's efforts to keep the Flynn case alive even though both the government and defendant want it dismissed.
Sullivan has previously suggested Flynn may have committed treason, in a bizarre 2018 courtroom outburst, and seemingly confused key details about Flynn's overseas lobbying work.
The precise reasons for the perjury review were not clear in Sullivan's order. Last year, Flynn abruptly abandoned his plan to provide testimony against a former associate, after admitting that he had lied on federal forms required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Flynn has said he received constitutionally inadequate legal advice.
Although Flynn was never charged with the FARA violations or perjury, he admitted to making “materially false statements and omissions” concerning his work in Turkey as part of his plea agreement. Flynn ultimately pleaded guilty only to one count of lying to FBI agents in the White House in January 2017 as his legal bills mounted, leading him to sell his home.
Flynn did not plead guilty to perjury, which applies to false statements under oath in a legal proceeding. (In leaked remarks this week, though, former President Obama conspicuously suggested Flynn had been charged with perjury.)

Justice Department official Andrew Weissman in 2002. Weissman has previously worked with Gleeson. The Twitter user Techno Fog first spotted that connection. (REUTERS, File)

Gleeson, a retired New York federal district court judge, was specifically appointed as an "amicus curiae," or friend of the court. Gleeson is now a partner at the international law firm Debevoise & Plimpton.
Gleeson penned an op-ed this week apparently pre-judging the Flynn case, writing that "the [Flynn] record reeks of improper political influence."
"So if the court finds dismissal would result in a miscarriage of justice, it can deny the motion, refuse to permit withdrawal of the guilty plea and proceed to sentencing," Gleeson wrote.
The Twitter sleuth Techno_Fog pointed out that Gleeson has recently worked with Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team. And, attorney Ron Coleman noted that Debevoise has also represented Sally Yates -- the former deputy attorney general who was fired after she took the extraordinary step of refusing to defend a Trump administration executive order in court.
The unexpected move to appoint Gleeson came just a day after Sullivan issued an order indicating he'll soon accept "amicus" submissions in the case -- drawing immediate scrutiny and a planned ethics complaint against Sullivan, who had previously refused to hear amicus briefs in the case.
Sullivan notably has not appointed an amicus to counter Gleeson's argument.
Sullivan has said, however, that he anticipated that "individuals and organizations" will file briefs "for the benefit of the court," as he prepares to rule on the government's motion to dismiss the case, citing a mountain of previously undisclosed exculpatory evidence.
Among those unearthed materials was a handwritten note from a top FBI official debating whether the bureau's goal in pursuing Flynn was to "get him fired."
OBAMA KNEW DETAILS OF FLYNN CASE, SHOCKING TOP DOJ OFFICIAL, DOCS SHOW
"Judge Sullivan, who denied leave to file amicus briefs when he knew third parties would have spoken favorably of Flynn, now solicits briefs critical of Flynn," independent journalist and attorney Michael Cernovich wrote on Twitter Tuesday evening. "This is a violation of the judicial oath and applicable ethical rules. We will be filing a complaint against Sullivan."
Cernovich cited D.C. appellate precedent as precluding Sullivan from keeping the case alive, in defiance of the wishes of both the prosecution and defense, given that there has been no final judgment or sentencing.

FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2017, file photo, Michael Flynn, center, arrives at federal court in Washington. A judge set a sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn after rejecting arguments from the former Trump administration national security adviser that prosecutors had withheld evidence favorable to his case. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Without a live "case or controversy," federal judges cannot exercise jurisdiction, according to the Case or Controversy Clause of Article III of the United States Constitution. The provision prevents judges from issuing advisory opinions, or acting on a matter that is not the subject of an ongoing dispute.
Will Chamberlain, a lawyer and the editor-in-chief of Human Events, separately noted that case law in the circuit generally prohibits trial court judges from second-guessing the government's decision not to prosecute a defendant.
Indeed, Sullivan himself had previously held in the Flynn case that "[o]ptions exist for a private citizen to express his views about matters of public interest, but the Court's docket is not an available option."
Flynn's legal team indicated in a filing Tuesday that a sealed amicus brief has already been submitted by a left-wing group known as the "Watergate Prosecutors," urging Sullivan not to toss out Flynn's guilty plea despite the Justice Department's request. That group was featured in an October 2019 Washington Post opinion piece, and listed Jill Wine-Banks -- who previously advanced unsubstantiated collusion theories involving the Trump campaign and Russia -- as one of its members.
WASHINGTON POST NEWSROOM DIVIDED OVER WHETHER FLYNN'S CALLS WERE EVEN NEWSWORTHY -- THEN OP-ED COLUMNIST WENT AHEAD
Wine-Banks was also explictly named as a member of the group seeking to file an amicus brief in the Flynn case.
"Mueller can prove conspiracy with Russia beyond any doubt," Wine-Banks previously wrote. She also claimed in 2017 that Flynn would receive "immunity for kidnapping as well as his federal crimes."
Late Tuesday, President Trump retweeted a post by the Twitter user Techno_Fog calling Wine-Banks a "Trump/Russia collusion nutter." The post concluded, sarcastically: "Good job Judge Sullivan!"
Wine-Banks did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

FILE - This Dec. 13, 2019 file photo shows former President Barack Obama speaking at the Gathering of Rising Leaders in the Asia Pacific, organized by the Obama Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

In his brief order Tuesday, Sullivan quoted his fellow judge on the D.C. District Court, Amy Berman Jackson, who previously admonished the parties in the Stone case that allowing amicus submissions does not mean that the criminal case will become a "free for all."
Flynn's case, however, has sometimes seemed like just that. In a fireworks-filled sentencing hearing in December 2018, for example, Sullivan himself appeared open to the idea that Flynn could be charged with a death penalty-eligible offense.
"I'm not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense," Sullivan said during that hearing. He added that Flynn's allegedly unregistered work with Turkey "arguably" had undermined "everything this flag over here stands for.” (Flynn was never charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which had gone largely unenforced until recently.)
WHO IS JOE PIENTKA, MYSTERY FBI AGENT AT CENTER OF FLYNN AND CARTER PAGE CASES? ... FBI SCRUBS HIM FROM WEBSITE
In a bizarre moment, Sullivan then asked the government's attorneys whether they had considered charging Flynn with treason. The prosecutors said they had not, and Sullivan later walked back his comments after a brief recess.
Then, last December, Sullivan accused Flynn's legal team of plagiarism in a filing, saying they had "lifted verbatim portions from a source without attribution." Powell shot back that the claim "made no sense," and that she relied on one of her own cases as well as a brief primarily written by a friend whom she cited.

Peter Strzok exchanged anti-Trump text messages with Lisa Page. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

On the recommendation of U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, who served as an FBI agent for more than a decade, the Justice Department last Thursday moved to drop its case against Flynn. The stunning development came after internal memos were released raising serious questions about the nature of the investigation that led to Flynn’s late 2017 guilty plea of lying to the FBI as his legal fees mounted.
One of the documents was a top official's handwritten memo debating whether the FBI's "goal" was "to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired." Other materials showed efforts by anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok to pursue Flynn on increasingly flimsy legal grounds.
It would not be unprecedented for the government to successfully move to dismiss a case after securing a conviction. In fact, Sullivan himself tossed the conviction of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens in 2009, when it emerged the government had not produced a slew of exculpatory "Brady" material.
Powell has raised similar issues in the Flynn case. Fox News has chronicled numerous representations by the lead prosecutor in the Flynn case, Brandon Van Grack, concerning the government's supposed compliance with "Brady' requirements -- representations that now appear to have been inaccurate, as a mountain of striking exculpatory evidence has emerged.

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