Feds seek delay in Michael Flynn case - POLITICO

President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn. | Carolyn Kaster, File/AP Photo

By JOSH GERSTEIN

02/09/2020 12:28 PM EST

Federal prosecutors are seeking a delay in the case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, arguing that his request to withdraw his guilty plea may require testimony from his former lawyers.

In unusual Sunday morning court filings, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington did not explicitly call for a postponement of Flynn’s scheduled Feb. 27 sentencing on a single felony charge of making false statements to the FBI, but suggested putting off looming deadlines in a way that would make it unlikely for any sentencing to take place this month.

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The new filings say Flynn’s claims that he received ineffective assistance from his former lawyers at the premier D.C. law firm Covington & Burling will require information and perhaps testimony from those attorneys. The government is asking U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan to issue an order that Flynn has waived attorney-client privilege in those communications.

“The government requests that the Court suspend the current briefing schedule concerning the defendant’s [motion] until such time as the government has been able to confer with Covington regarding the information it seeks,” prosecutors wrote. “While Covington has indicated a willingness to comply with this request, it has understandably declined to do so in the absence of a Court order confirming the waiver of attorney-client privilege.”

The pair of prosecution filings submitted on Sunday do not bear the signature of Brandon Van Grack, a former member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team who has been the lead attorney on the case since its outset.

The new submissions are signed by an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, Jocelyn Ballantine, who has helped handle Flynn’s case since Mueller’s office shut down last May. The filings are the first in the case submitted under the authority of Tim Shea, the new, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia appointed last month by Attorney General William Barr.

Shea, a former aide to Barr, previously worked as an attorney at major law firms and counsel for Republican-led House and Senate committees.

After Mueller’s office closed, Van Grack had continued to shepherd the Flynn case as a special assistant U.S. attorney in Washington while also serving in a newly created Justice Department position overseeing enforcement of the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

Justice Department spokespeople and Van Grack did not immediately respond to inquiries on Sunday about his status. Despite his absence from the latest prosecution pleadings, Van Grack has not formally notified the court of any change to his affiliation with the case.

Flynn’s new legal team, led by a longtime Mueller critic, Sidney Powell, is opposing prosecutors’ efforts to delay filings on his plea withdrawal until further discussions take place with Covington. Sullivan had ordered prosecutors to submit their response by Wednesday.

“Our position is that at the minimum, the Department of Justice should agree to withdrawal of the plea,” Flynn’s defense team said in a statement that prosecutors included in one of their new filings. “Accordingly, we oppose any further extension of the briefing schedule.”

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