Michael Flynn: Court of Appeal to rehear the case of former Trump aide

A U.S. appeals court has agreed to rehear arguments over efforts to drop the charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, one of several Trump associates convicted of lying.

Flynn, a former three-star American general, was the highest-ranking official caught by a special lawyer’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

A federal court moved to dismiss the charges last month.

An oral discussion on the case will take place on August 11.

Flynn was forced to resign early in the Trump presidency for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian government officials.

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The District of Columbia US Circuit Court of Appeals issued the surprising 2-1 ruling to withdraw the case on June 24, after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to Washington.

It followed a much-criticized request from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop the case and an attempt by Flynn to change his guilty plea.

The ruling ordered the judge overseeing the Flynn case to immediately drop all charges and to cease scrutiny of the Justice Department’s decision to drop the long-standing accusation.

President Trump applauded the “big” ruling in a tweet and asked that the fired FBI director James Comey apologize to him.

However, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan asked the entire court to reconsider the ruling, saying that dropping the case was unprecedented and that it needed to be carefully examined.

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed Thursday to uphold an oral argument on the case in less than two weeks.

Democrats have said the Flynn case is an example of Attorney General William Barr playing an important role in legal and political battles involving President Trump.