Michael Flynn Judge in Trouble? Hires Attorney After Appeal Court Order to Explain Himself

The case against Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump and once the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to former President Barack Obama, has resulted in U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan's move to retain the services of high-profile attorney Beth Wilkinson.

The question is: does Judge Sullivan need legal help to explain his recent move not to grant a Department of Justice request to dismiss the case against Flynn, or is he anticipating the need for legal advice for troubles of his own?

The complicated case against Flynn began when he admitted lying to the FBI about his contacts with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 presidential election. Flynn pleaded guilty in late 2017 and Judge Sullivan delayed his sentencing to allow Flynn the chance to continue to cooperate with government officials working to prove collusion charges toward President Trump.

Shortly after, the now recalcitrant Flynn replaced his legal team, charged federal prosecutors with misconduct, and moved to rescind his guilty plea, claiming it was coerced by prosecutors.

As Flynn moved forward to undo his guilty plea, Attorney General William Barr decided to abandon the prosecution because of some new-found documents showing improper motivations for the FBI's initial interview with Flynn. This led to some outrage by the former officials involved in the decision.

Judge Sullivan, one of the enraged “former officials” did not grant the DOJ's dismissal. Instead, he appointed a retired federal judge to argue against Barr’s position and to consider whether Flynn needed to be held in criminal contempt for perjury.

Former Whitewater deputy independent counsel Sol Wisenberg explained Sullivan’s actions to Fox News' "Bill Hemmer Reports" on Tuesday, "There's no question that what he seemed to be doing was delaying this process. And ... the D.C. Court of appeals [is] saying, 'You're going against clear law here. What are you doing?'"

Wisenberg called Sullivan a "celebrity in legal circles" and "very popular" among the bar in D.C. He added, "He's used to that celebrity status. When he appointed this ... amicus and delayed this process, he was praised in the press. The only problem is the law doesn't let him do it. He's a celebrity, but a celebrity in trouble. He needs a very good lawyer like Beth Wilkinson to help explain what the heck he's doing to the court of appeals.”

Last week Judge Sullivan was given a directive to respond to a writ of mandamus request by Flynn's lawyers. The writ is a rare legal maneuver from an appellate court to a lower court or government official that directs the object of the writ, in this case Sullivan, to perform his duty and not exceed his authority. It is issued when an abuse of discretion is suspected, and the petitioner has no other alternative or “remedy” to their case. With the help of attorney Beth Wilkinson, Sullivan has until June 1 to respond.