Sidney Powell Sidney Powell

Dallas attorney Sidney Powell, a critic of the special counsel's office and a former federal prosecutor, is taking over the defense of Michael Flynn, the former Trump administration national security adviser awaiting sentencing on a guilty plea to making false statements.

Flynn's previous defense team at Covington & Burling withdrew last week, saying Flynn terminated their service. Court filings in Washington did not give a reason. Flynn's defense was led by Covington partner Robert Kelner, who chairs the firm's election and political law practice group.

Powell has criticized members of Robert's Mueller's prosecution team, who filed the case against Flynn. She is the author of the Enron-focused book titled “Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice.” Powell is primarily a federal appellate practitioner and served as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1978 to 1988 in Texas and Virginia.

“I'm honored to be representing General Flynn and appreciate the trust of him and his family. He is going to continue to cooperate with the government in all pending matters,” Powell said by email.

She had not entered a formal appearance by late Wednesday in the Washington federal court case of the retired three-star Army general.

Kelner was not immediately reached for comment. The Hill earlier reported Wednesday that Powell was representing Flynn.

Powell has appeared on Fox News shows and other conservative media outlets to argue prosecutors at times have given Democrats “passes” and Republicans “are literally targeted and prosecuted and their lives destroyed on things that are even made up.”

Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to federal investigators about his contact with ex-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition. Flynn was the first former Trump administration official to be charged in Mueller's investigation.

Flynn has been “dragged … through living hell,” Powell said on a conservative radio show last December. “He's been just tortured for all this time.”

She added: “Flynn would have cooperated with them from the get-go because that's the kind of person he is. They didn't have to threaten to indict him and indict other members of this family and treat him like a criminal to get his cooperation. He would have cooperated with them because he's an honorable American.”

Flynn appeared in court in December in Washington for sentencing, but the hearing was delayed when the presiding judge, Emmet Sullivan, raised the specter of a possible prison sentence. Flynn's lawyers agreed to the delay to allow Flynn to show the extent of his cooperation with prosecutors.

In court then, Sullivan expressed “disdain” about Flynn's actions and questioned whether Flynn “sold out your country.”

“I'm going to be frank with you: This crime is very serious,” Sullivan said at the time, highlighting more than once how Flynn was a high-ranking official who lied to the FBI.

Prosecutors, lauding Flynn's cooperation, have not recommended a prison sentence. Flynn's “early cooperation was particularly valuable because he was one of the few people with long-term and firsthand insight regarding events and issues under investigation by” Mueller.

Powell called Sullivan the “judicial hero” of her book on the Enron prosecution last year. Powell praised the focus Sullivan placed on prosecution ethics in the aftermath of the botched public-corruption case against the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. Sullivan presided over the case against Stevens, which was mired in claims of prosecutorial abuses and ultimately dismissed.

 

Read more:

Michael Flynn Fires Covington Team as Sentencing Looms

Judge Declines to Press Prosecutors to Release Michael Flynn Transcripts

'Thanks, Pal.' Read Trump Attorney's Message to Flynn Lawyer About Cooperation

Judge Emmet Sullivan Delays Flynn Sentencing After Threatening Prison

Mueller Trumpets Flynn's Help, Says Don't Lock Him Up