In a 92-page decision, Sullivan ruled that there were no grounds for Flynn's allegations, which suggested that federal agents with the FBI and the US Department of Justice had entrapped the retired three-star US Army general into accepting a plea deal.
— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) December 16, 2019
The judge further indicated that documents requested by Flynn to be entered into the case were either already present or proved irrelevant to the proceedings, stating clearly that prosecutors had not purposely held back dozens of documents from his defense.
"[Flynn] fails to explain how most of the requested information that the government has not already provided to him is relevant and material to his underlying offense — willfully and knowingly making materially false statements and omissions to the FBI … or to his sentencing," Sullivan wrote, later adding that the former national security adviser's defense team failed to "establish a single Brady violation."
Flynn's sentencing had previously been postponed until after the release of the DoJ's Inspector General's report, which looked into the FBI and Justice Department's handling of secret warrants to surveil key Trump campaign figures - including Flynn, who joined the camp in early 2016. The report ultimately concluded that both agencies had not exhibited any political bias, but did make significant errors in its warrant applications.
The 60-year-old official pleaded guilty on December 1, 2017, to lying to the FBI about his postelection contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. It was then that he became one of the first top-ranking administration officials to be charged as a result of the special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.
