Republican attorneys general back Barr's bid to drop case against Flynn

Fifteen Republican state attorneys general have filed a legal brief telling a federal judge they support the justice department’s attempt to drop its case against the former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The move comes after almost 2,000 former justice department figures condemned the move to drop the case.

Flynn, a retired general, was fired by Trump for lying to the vice-president about conversations with the Russian ambassador. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Obama administration requests to “unmask” Flynn, as an American speaking to surveilled foreign nationals during the investigation of Russian election interference, a routine intelligence practice, are at the heart of Donald Trump’s attempts to create a scandal, the so-called “Obamagate”, to ensnare his predecessor and his challenger at the polls this year, former vice-president Joe Biden.

But Judge Emmet Sullivan has put a hold on attorney general William Barr’s attempt to drop the case against Flynn, and appointed a retired judge, John Gleeson, to argue against the motion to dismiss.

According to CNN, which obtained a copy of the legal brief, the Republican attorneys general believe “Sullivan’s questioning of the justice department was the court ‘inserting itself’ into ‘prosecutorial discretion’ and politics.

“They urged Sullivan to dismiss the case, ending Flynn’s legal jeopardy. They also asked him to dismiss Flynn’s charge ‘without irrelevant or personal comment’.”

The 15 Republican attorneys general who filed the brief are from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

In their open letter last week, almost 2,000 former justice department figures condemned the justice department’s stance on Flynn.

“Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics,” they said. “They are autocracies.”

On Monday, the Senate judiciary committee chair, Lindsey Graham, said he would seek the ability to subpoena records from senior intelligence officials in the Obama administration.

Barr, meanwhile, said no criminal investigations would be opened into Obama or Biden’s actions in office towards Flynn.

But Barr also claimed he would never use the “criminal justice system for partisan political ends”. Critics noticed the dissonance in his stance.