司法部把麦克弗林的案子改为撤销 (Justice Dept. moves to drop case against Michael Flynn) 作者: Spencer S. Hsu, Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky 

司法部在周四撤销对川普总统前国家安全顾问麦克弗林的检控，一个惊人的逆转引起了来自执法官员们和民主党人的指控，刑事司法系统正陷入到这届政府的政治压力中。(The Justice Department moved Thursday to drop charges against President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a stunning reversal that prompted fresh accusations from law enforcement officials and Democrats that the criminal justice system was caving to political pressure from the administration.)

解除弗林对FBI说谎的有罪请求是发生在经政治上任命的司法部高级官员认定低阶的检察官们和特工们在特别检察官穆勒进行的调查俄罗斯干预2016年大选的过程中犯了严重错误之后。(The unraveling of Flynn’s guilty plea for lying to the FBI came after senior political appointees in the Justice Department determined lower-level prosecutors and agents erred egregiously in the course of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.)

在周四法庭备案的文件里，司法部说"经过考虑审查所有的事实和这个案子的情况，包括新发现和公开的信息。。。本政府部门的结论是[弗林在2017年1月份与FBI的面谈]是通过FBI对弗林先生进行反情报调查，是不受束缚的，不合理的," 还有"所进行的调查没有任何合法的调查依据." (In court documents filed Thursday, the Justice Department said that “after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information . . . the government has concluded that [Flynn’s interview by the FBI in January 2017] was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn,” and that it was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”)

司法部撤销弗林的案子对川普来说是发了一笔政治横财。他之前已经宣称他在考虑要赦免他的前顾问。司法部的决定意味着他将不需要自己介入到弗林的案子里。(The Justice Department’s abandonment of the Flynn case is a political windfall for Trump, who had already declared that he was considering a pardon for his former adviser. The Justice Department’s decision means he won’t have to become personally involved in the Flynn case.)

川普在2017年2月份逼走了弗林，并当他认罪的时候，总统发了推特:"我必须炒掉弗林将军，因为他向副总统和FBI撒谎。他已经对那些说谎认罪了。这是个耻辱，因为他在过度时期的行为是合法的。没有什么可以隐藏的!" (Trump forced out Flynn in February 2017, and when he pleaded guilty, the president tweeted: “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!”)

在周四，川普告诉记者们，弗林是"一个更伟大的战士"，并把起诉他的资深FBI和司法部的官员们称为"人渣." 总统的律师Jay Sekulow说穆勒"应该为他所允许的，他的特工们和律师们的行为而感到羞愧." (On Thursday, Trump told reporters that Flynn was “an even greater warrior” and called the senior FBI and Justice Department officials who pursued him “human scum.” The president’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said Mueller “should be ashamed of the conduct of his agents and lawyers that he allowed.”)

通过一位代言人，穆勒表示拒绝就此事发表评论。司法部的一位女发言人说本司法部并没有把撤销此案的决定通报白宫。(Through a representative, Mueller declined to comment. A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department did not brief the White House on the decision to move to dismiss the case.)

司法部寻求去撤销一个已认罪的案子是非常不寻常的，并且是发生在司法部长[注: 又称总检察长]威廉巴尔就另一起穆勒调查的案件对检察官们施压，要求为总统的朋友和前政治顾问罗杰斯通提出减轻量刑的建议后的几个月。(It is highly unusual for the Justice Department to seek to undo a guilty plea, and comes just months after Attorney General William P. Barr pressed prosecutors in another of Mueller’s cases to soften their sentencing recommendation for the president’s friend and former political adviser Roger Stone.)

"司法部长巴尔的司法政治化是无底线的," 众议院议长南希佩洛西(加州民主党)说"推翻特别检察官的报告是没有先例的，是不尊重法治的." (“Attorney General Barr’s politicization of justice knows no bounds,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “Overruling the Special Counsel is without precedent and without respect for the rule of law.”)

就在司法部撤销对弗林的起诉之前没多久，直接负责此案的检察官Brandon Van Grack正式退出 - 这跟负责斯通案子的检察官做的一模一样。(Shortly before the Justice Department abandoned Flynn’s prosecution, the line prosecutor on the case, Brandon Van Grack, formally withdrew — just as the Stone prosecutors had.)

在新的文件里， 哥伦比亚区的联邦检察官谢伊写到"继续起诉这起案子不会为司法公正服务," 但是现在和以前的执法官员们说这个决定是对由来已久的司法部的原则的背叛。谢伊是由巴尔选中来领导联邦检察官办公室的，他是唯一一个在文件上签字的律师; 没有其他的职业律师在文件上加上他们的名字。(In the new filing, Timothy Shea, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote that “continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice,” but current and former law enforcement officials said the decision was a betrayal of long-standing Justice Department principles. Shea, who was tapped by Barr to lead the U.S. attorney’s office, was the only lawyer to sign the filing; no career attorneys affixed their names to it.)

"司法部和法治根基的另一个支柱已经塌了," 一位匿名的联邦起诉员说，因为他没被授权来公开谈论这个案子。"对此举的辩解是不可信的，而且将来可能会被犯罪分子用来逃脱合法的起诉." (“Another pillar in the foundation of the Department of Justice and the rule of law has fallen,” said one federal prosecutor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. “The justification for this move is not credible, and it may be used by criminals in the future to escape legitimate prosecution.")

文章的篇幅有点长，就翻译到这吧。司法部根基的一个支柱已经塌了。以后的犯罪分子的辩护律师们也多了一条道。为全世界人民所崇尚的，也是美国立国之宝之一的司法独立受到了前所未有的挑战。希望世界不要盲从，希望世界依然清醒。

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