Mr. Shea also said he was uncertain that prosecutors could prove that Mr. Flynn’s false statements were material to the Russia investigation.
Mr. Van Grack had said in earlier court filings that the “topics of sanctions went to the heart of the F.B.I.’s counterintelligence investigation.” He said that “any effort to undermine those sanctions could have been evidence of links or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.”
Judge Sullivan had also said that Mr. Flynn’s statements were material to the Russia inquiry.
Mr. Flynn cooperated extensively with the Justice Department before hiring new lawyers last year and later moving to withdraw his plea. Ms. Powell has accused prosecutors in a blizzard of court filings of “bad faith,” pressuring her client to cooperate and withholding exculpatory evidence. Judge Sullivan
forcefully rejected most of those claims.
It will be interesting to see what Judge Sullivan is going to do, demonstrating whether or not the U.S. justice system is worth more than a dog's fart in the age of Trump and his most subservient lick-spittle (not named Pence), Barr.