FOLLOW US

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan has acted like he is more powerful than the Department of Justice and the president for months, but reality has now hit him like a brick wall.

If the face of President Donald Trump issuing a pardon to Gen. Michael Flynn, after seven months of Judge Sullivan holding up the Justice Department recommendation to dismiss the case against him, the case was finally dismissed on Tuesday.

But Judge Sullivan, who has been exceedingly political during this entire process, had no choice anymore but to dismiss the case as moot, Yahoo News reported.

"President Trump's decision to pardon Mr. Flynn is a political decision, not a legal one," he said. "Because the law recognizes the President's political power to pardon, the appropriate course is to dismiss this case as moot."

But the judge, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, could not let the case go before taking some parting shots at the president and General Flynn.

"However, the pardon 'does not, standing alone, render [Mr. Flynn] innocent of the alleged violation,’” Judge Sullivan said.

General Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the alleged Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

And Judge Sullivan accused President Trump of having a great deal of interest in the case, which appeared to be true judging by the many tweets of the president about the case.

"Mr. Flynn was serving as an adviser to President Trump's transition team during the events that gave rise to the conviction here, and, as this case has progressed, President Trump has not hidden the extent of his interest in this case,” he said.

"This commentary has 'made clear that the President has been closely following the proceedings, is personally invested in ensuring that [Mr.] Flynn's prosecution ends, and has deep animosity toward those who investigated and prosecuted [Mr.] Flynn,'" the judge said.

Judge Sullivan continued, "And simultaneous to the President's 'running commentary,' many of the President's remarks have also been viewed as suggesting a breakdown in the 'traditional independence of the Justice Department from the President."

"Given this context, the new legal positions the government took in its" motion to toss out the Flynn case "raise questions regarding its motives in moving to dismiss," he said.

A federal judge taking this much of a partisan stance, dragging a case on after the prosecutors were no longer interested in pursuing it, and then using his dismissal to attack the President of the United States is abhorrent.