At the time Flynn entered his plea, he was represented by Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony of the well-respected Washington firm of Covington and Burling, LLP. Kelner and Anthony continued to represent Flynn until he fired them in June 2019 and replaced them with Powell.
Powell's brief walked through these three factors, stressing first that Flynn is innocent of the charge that he lied to the FBI. Powell's analysis of this factor followed her opening plea to Judge Sullivan to recall that "More than a year ago, at the December 18, 2018, Sentencing Hearing, this Court declared that it could not 'recall any incident in which the Court has ever accepted a plea of guilty from someone who maintained that he was not guilty,' and that it did not 'intend to start' that day."
Even if Flynn could have waived Covington's conflicts of interest, Flynn did not provide an informed consent to allow Covington to continue to represent him, Powell posited.
While Flynn responded to Covington's request for "Informed consent" that he was very confident in the team and trusted them, in the motion to withdraw his plea, Powell stresses that the request came too late and was ineffective to inform Flynn of the extent of the conflict.
Beyond the conflict of interest, Powell highlighted several other deficiencies in Covington's representation, the most serious of which is her claim that the Covington lawyers did not inform Flynn that on November 30, 2017, the day before he pleaded guilty, the special counsel's office "Disclosed to Covington that 'one of the agents who interviewed Mr. Flynn was being investigated by the DOJ Inspector General' and had electronic communications that 'showed a preference for one of the candidates for President.'".
Flynn also asserts that his attorneys did not inform him that the special counsel had just disclosed that "The agents said Mr. Flynn had a 'sure demeanor,' and 'did not give any indicators of deception' and that the agents 'had the impression at the time that Mr. Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying.'".
The email then noted, while using scare quotes around "False statements"-suggesting his legal team did not believe Flynn's FARA filings were fraudulent-that "Several of the 'false statements' are contradicted by the caveats or qualifications in the filing." Nonetheless, Covington advised Flynn to sign the Statement of Offense, which though later modified, created the inaccurate impression that Flynn had admitted to knowingly filing false FARA registration statements.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/30/whats-inside-the-latest-court-filings-in-michael-flynns-case/
Powell's brief walked through these three factors, stressing first that Flynn is innocent of the charge that he lied to the FBI. Powell's analysis of this factor followed her opening plea to Judge Sullivan to recall that "More than a year ago, at the December 18, 2018, Sentencing Hearing, this Court declared that it could not 'recall any incident in which the Court has ever accepted a plea of guilty from someone who maintained that he was not guilty,' and that it did not 'intend to start' that day."
Even if Flynn could have waived Covington's conflicts of interest, Flynn did not provide an informed consent to allow Covington to continue to represent him, Powell posited.
While Flynn responded to Covington's request for "Informed consent" that he was very confident in the team and trusted them, in the motion to withdraw his plea, Powell stresses that the request came too late and was ineffective to inform Flynn of the extent of the conflict.
Beyond the conflict of interest, Powell highlighted several other deficiencies in Covington's representation, the most serious of which is her claim that the Covington lawyers did not inform Flynn that on November 30, 2017, the day before he pleaded guilty, the special counsel's office "Disclosed to Covington that 'one of the agents who interviewed Mr. Flynn was being investigated by the DOJ Inspector General' and had electronic communications that 'showed a preference for one of the candidates for President.'".
Flynn also asserts that his attorneys did not inform him that the special counsel had just disclosed that "The agents said Mr. Flynn had a 'sure demeanor,' and 'did not give any indicators of deception' and that the agents 'had the impression at the time that Mr. Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying.'".
The email then noted, while using scare quotes around "False statements"-suggesting his legal team did not believe Flynn's FARA filings were fraudulent-that "Several of the 'false statements' are contradicted by the caveats or qualifications in the filing." Nonetheless, Covington advised Flynn to sign the Statement of Offense, which though later modified, created the inaccurate impression that Flynn had admitted to knowingly filing false FARA registration statements.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/30/whats-inside-the-latest-court-filings-in-michael-flynns-case/
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