This column by Chuck Rosenberg on the supposed materiality of Flynn's alleged lies is one of the more misleading and disingenuous ones I have seen to date. Allow me to explain why. 1/ https://twitter.com/FrankFigliuzzi1/status/1259578581870493696

18 USC Section 1001 requires that a false statement be material to a matter within the jurisdiction of a federal agency, department, etc. Flynn was charged with violating Section 1001 in a one count Criminal information that tracked a portion of the statutory language. 2/

A federal court cannot accept a guilty plea without a Factual Basis, Factual Factual Statement, or Statement of the Offense--all the same thing. Flynn's Statement of the Offense said his "false statements and omissions impeded and otherwise had a material impact on the... 3/

FBI's ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the Campaign and Russia's efforts to interfere with the 2016 Presidential election." We now know that this wasn't true. 4/

The FBI knew before questioning Flynn, because they had closed the Crossfire Razor case against him, that Flynn had no involvement whatsoever in any coordination with Russia regarding the 2016 election. They had already closed the Crossfire Razor investigation. 5/

But this information was not shared with the defense until DOJ's recent declassification and disclosure of documents So Flynn didn't know that there was a real question as to the materiality of his statements to the FBI on 1-17-24, which was the whole basis of the 1001 charge. 6/

This is the only materiality that matters in the context of Flynn's actual case. The withheld information was material to his guilt under Judge Sullivan's standing order, even though Flynn had pled guilty by the time Sullivan got the case, and it was material to his punishment.7/

So all of Chuck's materiality examples are red herrings. Not only are they generally BS in absolute terms, they are specifically BS in relation to the Factual Basis of the charged crime. 8/

Flynn wasn't charged with false statements related to the Logan Act, one of the laughable pretexts used to question him, and he never would have been. He was charged with impeding an investigation into a matter, Crossfire Hurricane, which, as to him, was finished.

The closing of Crossfire Razor prior to the questioning of Flynn, and the improper effort to keep it open, was material information that should have been revealed to Flynn. Chuck is right about one thing. This isn't a close call.