Vox Sentences - A win for Flynn

An appeals court rules that the criminal case against Michael Flynn should be dismissed; Kosovo's president is indicted for war crimes.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters.

• On Wednesday, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals sided with President Trump’s Justice Department and directed a lower court to dismiss criminal charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. [Reuters / Sarah N. Lynch]
• The decision is part of a sudden reversal in Flynn’s fortunes; Flynn had twice pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about conversations with Russia during the transition between administrations, but the DOJ moved to dismiss his case last month. [CNN / Katelyn Polantz]
• A district court judge had planned to examine the DOJ’s decision to do so in a hearing scheduled for next month, but Wednesday’s ruling — in which the majority argues that “a hearing cannot be used as an occasion to superintend the prosecution’s charging decisions” — puts a damper on that plan. [ABC News / Alexander Mallin]
• Previously, a former federal judge appointed to oppose the DOJ decision to end prosecution argued in a court filing that dismissing the case against Flynn was a “gross abuse of prosecutorial power ... to benefit a political ally of the President.” [Washington Post / Ann E. Marimow]
• It’s unclear where Flynn’s case, which has spanned virtually the entire Trump administration, will go from here. The decision could be reconsidered before the full court or appealed to the Supreme Court, but as Politico points out, it would be “extraordinary” for a district court judge to take either step. [Politico / Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney]
• It's also possible the full appeals court will choose to reconsider the decision even without a request — as Vox's Ian Millhiser writes, judges Neomi Rao and Karen Henderson, who were the majority in Wednesday's 2-1 decision, "are far-right outliers" on the court. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]
• Flynn’s case isn’t the only active storyline involving criminal conduct by Trump allies: Two prosecutors involved in the case of longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday regarding political interference in Stone’s sentencing. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
• In written testimony, DOJ prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky accused senior Justice Department leadership of exerting “significant pressure ... to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in [Stone's] trial and the criminal conduct that gave rise to his conviction.” [NPR / Carrie Johnson]
• Zelinsky, who was also a member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, quit Stone’s case earlier this year along with three other DOJ prosecutors after the acting US attorney for DC overrode Zelinsky’s sentencing recommendation for Stone. [Daily Beast / Spencer Ackerman]
• Stone was convicted in November and sentenced to 40 months in prison for obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress; however, he has yet to begin serving his time and earlier this week requested a postponement because of the coronavirus risk in prison. [CBS News / Melissa Quinn]

• On Wednesday, a special prosecutor in The Hague announced a war crimes indictment against Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi and nine others for actions dating back to the country’s war of independence against Serbia in the late 1990s. [NYT / Gerry Mullany]
• The 10-count indictment accuses Thaçi and the others of almost 100 murders, as well as torture and “disappearing” victims. Thaçi and Kosovo Democratic Party leader Kadri Veseli, who was also indicted, both served as Kosovo Liberation Army commanders in the war. [Washington Post / Michael Birnbaum]
• The war, which ended in 1999 after a NATO bombing campaign, wasn’t the end of the conflict; Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and the two countries were set to participate in talks at the White House this weekend. Wednesday’s indictment has, obviously, derailed those plans. [BBC]
• Richard Grenell, who serves as the US special envoy for peace talks between Serbia and Kosovo in addition to his role as US ambassador to Germany, announced on Twitter Wednesday that Thaçi had canceled his trip to the US following the indictment. [Twitter/ Richard Grenell]
• While the charges have yet to be confirmed by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, prosecutors have indicated that they believe they will be able to “prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.” [Radio Free Europe]

[New York Times]

• After winning a GOP runoff in North Carolina Tuesday, Madison Cawthorn, who will turn 25 in August, will become the youngest House member in recent history if he wins in his heavily Republican district this November. [Washington Post / Meagan Flynn]
• A police reform package proposed by the Senate GOP ran out of road on Wednesday after Democrats rejected the proposal for not going far enough. [Vox / Li Zhou]
• How to enable Google’s newest feature to auto-delete your data. [Recode / Sara Morrison]
• The Oregon Zoo has some exceptionally cute otters. [Twitter / Oregon Zoo]

[Jamaal Bowman on his victory over 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel in New York's 16th Congressional District / BuzzFeed News]

How much should we trust John Bolton’s version of events, and how angry should we be about his book coming out now rather than during Trump’s impeachment? [Spotify / Zack Beauchamp, Jenn Williams, and Alex Ward]