The Case of Michael Flynn 

Roger Berkowitz

I’ve written about the controversy over the prosecution of Michael Flynn here and here. On the one hand, the effort by the Trump administration to drop charges against Flynn smacks of an authoritarian interference with the independent judiciary and the rule of law. On the other hand, there are questions about the original prosecution itself as an overreach by security agencies. Now Barbara McQuade offers an account arguing that the original prosecution of Flynn was justified. 

Eli Lake’s essay in Commentary about the “railroading” of Michael Flynn has been lauded by one commentator as “the best summary of the pro-Flynn argument you’ll ever read,” and deemed “a comprehensive breakdown on Flynn’s side of the case.” But those descriptions actually prove a different point than their authors intend. The only way Lake is able to make a persuasive defense of Flynn is by relying on serious omissions and misrepresentations.