US Attorney General taps outside prosecutor to review case against Michael Flynn
February 15, 2020, 11:17 am

US Attorney General taps outside prosecutor to review case against Michael Flynn

A file photo of Flynn during a conference at the US Institute Of Peace in Washington DC. (File photo AFP)

US Attorney General William Barr has tapped the top federal prosecutor in St. Louis to review the Justice Department’s politically-charged case against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a department official said on Friday.

Jeffrey Jensen, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, will be working alongside the case’s lead prosecutor Brandon Van Grack, a move that comes a month after Flynn told the court he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The news of Barr’s decision to tap an outside prosecutor on the Flynn case caps an extraordinary week at the Justice Department.

On Tuesday, the department lightened its sentencing recommendation for Trump political ally Roger Stone after criticism from the president that an earlier recommendation for seven to nine years in prison was too harsh.

The move prompted all four career prosecutors on the case to withdraw and one of them to quit the government entirely.

Barr on Thursday tried to beat back critics’ concerns that he was doing the president’s political bidding by intervening to help Stone, and said the president’s constant tweets on criminal cases were undercutting his ability to do his job.

The very next day, prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC revealed they would not be pressing charges against former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent punching bag of Trump’s, over allegations he misled investigators about his communications with the media.

Barr’s decision to bring in Jensen on the Flynn case, however, could potentially undercut his efforts to do damage control after Trump’s flurry of tweets on the Stone case.

The Justice Department official stressed that Jensen’s role was not to oversee career prosecutors’ work on the Flynn case, but to work alongside them.

Jensen is assisting the department and prosecution team “to get a complete and thorough understanding of the facts and the record in a complicated case,” the person told Reuters, speaking anonymously in order to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

Flynn pleaded guilty in late 2017 to lying to the FBI about interactions with Russia’s ambassador to the United States in the weeks before Trump took office.

He was supposed to help cooperate with the government as part of his deal. But he later switched lawyers and tactics, arguing that prosecutors in the case had violated his rights and tricked him into lying about his December 2016 conversations with Sergei Kislyak, then Russia’s ambassador in Washington.

The department has repeatedly denied the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, and US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected all of Flynn’s claims in December and set a sentencing date.

Shortly after that, Flynn filed the motion to withdraw his plea.

Given all of the allegations that the case was mishandled, Jensen was brought in to help “review the whole thing, soup to nuts,” the person said.

Jensen’s involvement in the Flynn case was reported earlier by the New York Times.

source: Reuters

Health officials to start testing for coronavirus in five US states US official says Washington, Taliban reach Afghan truce agreement

BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”