President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse on June 24, 2019 in Washington, DC.
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A federal appeals court on Monday overwhelmingly rejected a bid by Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump‘s first national security advisor, to force the prompt dismissal of the criminal case in which he had been convicted of lying to FBI agents.
In an 8-2 ruling, the appeals court judges indicated that Flynn’s request was premature, since U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan of Washington had not even ruled on the dismissal bid yet.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also said that Flynn had failed to show that he had a clear right to have a judge other than Sullivan handle his case.
The ruling sends the case back for consideration by Sullivan.
Flynn had the appeals court asked the to compel Sullivan to sign off on a request by the Justice Department that he dimiss Flynn’s conviction after the judge did not promptly grant that request.
Flynn also asked that Sullivan be removed from the case, saying that he had overstepped his authority in asking for a lawyer unconnected to the case to argue to the judge against the Justice Department’s motion, and in allowing outside parties to weigh in on the matter,
Earlier this summer, a three-judge panel of the appeals court had ruled in Flynn’s favor, saying that the case had to be dismissed.
But Sullivan then asked that the entire line-up of judges on the appeals court rehear the case.
It agreed to do so. And in Monday’s decision, the court ruled in the judge’s favor, saying that he should have more time to weigh the question of whether to dismiss Flynn’s case.
Neither a lawyer for Flynn nor the Justice Department immediately responded to CNBC’s requests for comment on Monday’s ruling.
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