National Security Adviser Michael Flynn arrives in the east Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, for a news conference with President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. . (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Believe it or not, remnants of Robert Mueller’s team are still on the job. Though the special counsel itself has been disbanded, these are careerists within the DOJ who have continued to service cases. One of those involves Gen. Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI years ago at this point.

The problem from the beginning has been that it’s not clear Flynn did anything wrong. We now have proof that the FBI (under the command of Andrew McCabe) altered the 302s at a later date. We also know the agents who interviewed Flynn did not feel he was being dishonest. Lastly, the question of intent was in play.

Flynn was put in a vice over the matter, though. Mueller’s team essentially bankrupted him and then threatened his son with prosecution as well. Flynn caved and pleaded guilty under a cooperation agreement, which he fulfilled without offering much because he simply didn’t have much to offer. Then the games started. As Flynn approached his sentencing, more and more of the above evidence that the FBI had mishandled his case began to emerge. The fact that he might seek to exonerate himself angered prosecutors, who ignored that he fulfilled the cooperation agreement and decided to recommend he get up to six months in prison.

But Flynn’s legal team was ready with the big guns. They filed to completely withdraw Flynn’s guilty plea in response and that’s caused prosecutors to go running away with their arms flailing.

I like how the Times reporter is acting perplexed. Rachel Maddow also played this game, insinuating that Bill Barr did this because her mind always goes to the most ridiculous, bias confirming theory.

What changed is that Flynn called their bluff. They wanted to punish him for daring to seek evidence that could prove his innocence and instead of cowering, Flynn said fine, let’s do this thing. As a result, the prosecutors are waving the white flag and signaling they just want this over with. It would be a colossal embarrassment for them to go court and actually lose this case (which would likely happen given how muddy the waters are now).

I’m not in Flynn’s position, and he may choose to just accept the probation recommendation and move on, but I’d enjoy seeing him push this issue and make prosecutors prove their case after they tried to screw him over and throw him in jail.

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