Michael Flynn slams judge appealing order to dismiss his prosecution

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn said a federal judge “hijacked” his criminal prosecution “for his own purposes” and asked an appeals court to deny the judge’s request to reconsider its previous order that he dismiss the case.

Flynn said in a memo filed Monday with the U.S. appeals court in Washington, D.C., that it would unfairly prolong the legal battle to grant the request by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan for a so-called en banc rehearing by a larger panel of appellate judge.

Last month, a divided three-judge panel instructed Sullivan to grant the Justice Department’s May 7 request to dismiss the charges against Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russia contacts. Sullivan had sought to hold hearings on the request to determine if the Justice Department under Attorney General William Barr had acted in favor of a political ally of President Donald Trump.

“Judge Sullivan’s extraordinary actions arise solely from his disagreement with the Government’s decision to dismiss the case,” Flynn said in the memo. “The district court has hijacked and extended a criminal prosecution for almost three months for its own purposes,” he added.

Flynn argued that Sullivan overlooked 80 pages of evidence showing the case against him was flawed and influenced by political bias. He also called the judge’s petition for rehearing “rife with errors,” highlighting a misstated date.

The Justice Department filed its own memo Monday opposing Sullivan’s petition, arguing that the appeals court should deny the request on procedural grounds. The memo also defended the panel’s original decision and said that allowing the process to continue would cause “irreparable injury” to the government.

—Bloomberg News

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NAACP plans virtual march on Washington on anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech

Fifty-seven years after Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and called for a better world, the NAACP will issue a new call for a “bold new Black agenda.”

The organization will host a “Virtual March on Washington” on Aug. 27 and 28, officials announced Monday, the anniversary of the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech and the day after President Trump is scheduled to accept the Republican presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention.

“For generations, African Americans in this country have faced an anti-Black pandemic,” the NAACP said in a statement.

“From the unjust killings of innocent African Americans to the disproportionate impact of a global health pandemic, Black people have been getting attacked on all fronts. This moment has exposed the inequities embedded in the underlying fabric of our nation.”

The NAACP did not respond to questions about details of the event, including possible speakers.

The coronavirus pandemic and the summer of anti-police brutality protests have hit Black communities especially hard, including the police killings of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

—New York Daily News

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Dr. Anthony Fauci accepts Nationals’ offer to throw first pitch

WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day on Thursday, the Washington Nationals announced.

“Dr. Fauci has been a true champion for our country during the Covid-19 pandemic and throughout his distinguished career,” reads the official statement.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert is a big baseball fan and an even bigger Nats fan, flaunting his love for the team around town and on Capitol Hill.

When he walks onto the field Thursday, he won’t see any crowds, since the team will be playing to empty stands due to the pandemic.

But as TV viewers tune in at home, the pitch will put Fauci front and center in Washington at a time when President Donald Trump has seemed to want him anyplace else. Efforts on the part of the White House to call his public health expertise into question are “bizarre,” Fauci told The Atlantic last week.

The president himself has not thrown out a first pitch while in office, though many of his predecessors did.

In recent weeks, Fauci has used baseball as an icebreaker. After arriving at a House hearing this summer wearing a simple black face covering, he pulled a costume change in the middle, strapping on a bold red face mask featuring the Nationals logo.

“There’s quite an uproar on social media about the fact that Dr. Fauci has changed face masks and the implications thereof. Do you have any comment?” asked House Energy and Commerce ranking member Greg Walden on June 23.

It wasn’t exactly a hardball question. Fauci grinned as he pulled down the mask to answer. “I am an avid Washington Nationals Fan, so I thought I would break this up by putting on my Washington Nationals face mask,” he said.

—CQ-Roll Call

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Egypt assembly gives mandate for military intervention in Libya

CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt’s parliament unanimously authorized President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to intervene militarily in Libya if necessary, raising the stakes of the conflict in the North African oil producer.

The assembly’s decision, announced in a statement by the 596-seat parliament, came days after el-Sissi told a group of mainly eastern Libyan tribal heads that Egypt was determined to protect its interests and those of its neighbor. El-Sissi has warned the Turkish-backed internationally recognized government in the capital, Tripoli, against trying to take the central city of Sirte, a gateway to Libya’s oil crescent, from eastern commander Khalifa Haftar.

Egypt, which backs Haftar, has grown increasingly uneasy over Turkey’s support for Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj’s Government of National Accord in Tripoli. Turkish military and logistical support for Sarraj’s administration has allowed it to turn the tide of a war in which Haftar appeared to be prevailing.

El-Sissi has repeatedly said that Egypt’s security interests intertwine with those of neighboring Libya. He had indicated that any military intervention would have to be requested by Libya’s parliament in the east, a condition that’s already been met.

The Libya conflict, which escalated in April 2019 with Haftar’s push to take the capital, has morphed into a proxy war of regional powers. Haftar is also backed by the United Arab Emirates and Russian mercenaries, while Turkey has provided Syrian fighters and other logistical support for Sarraj’s forces.

—Bloomberg News

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