{"id":2029257,"date":"2023-09-12T13:37:05","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T17:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-once-thought-it-had-victory-against-trump-ally-years-later-its-being-forced-to-drop-the-case-and-turn-him-loose\/"},"modified":"2023-09-12T13:40:19","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T17:40:19","slug":"doj-once-thought-it-had-victory-against-trump-ally-years-later-its-being-forced-to-drop-the-case-and-turn-him-loose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-once-thought-it-had-victory-against-trump-ally-years-later-its-being-forced-to-drop-the-case-and-turn-him-loose\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ&#8217;s Initial Victory Against Trump Ally Now Ends in Case Dismissal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdoj-once-thought-it-had-victory-against-trump-ally-years-later-its-being-forced-to-drop-the-case-and-turn-him-loose%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2029257&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>DOJ \u200bOnce Thought It\u2063 Had Victory \u200cAgainst \u2063Trump Ally, Years Later It&#8217;s \u200dBeing Forced \u200bto Drop the Case and Turn Him Loose<\/h2>\n<p>It was supposed to be one of the few victories the Department of Justice could claim in its \u2064investigation into purported foreign influence over Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 campaign. Now, the prosecution is giving up and letting the defendant free.<\/p>\n<p>According\u2064 to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/09\/11\/prosecutors-drop-bijan-rafiekian-case-00115003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Politico<\/a>,\u2064 in a Monday court filing, prosecutors said they \u200cwere abandoning any attempts to prosecute Bijan Rafiekian, or Kian, an\u200b ally and business \u200dpartner of \u2062former\u200d National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, for being an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-biden-allies-worked-for-group-with-close-ties-to-chinese-communist-party\/\" title=\"Top Biden Allies Worked for Group With Close Ties to Chinese Communist Party\">unregistered foreign agent<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/will-america-defeat-isis-fears-grow-turkey-will-invade-syria-leading-mass-exodus-isis-terrorists-prison\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">for \u200bTurkey<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-bijan-kian-turkey-flynn-dropped-charges-5d28d5f09b8b5dcdb44fabef39ec1543\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Associated Press<\/a> noted the charges were originally filed in 2018 \u2062as an ancillary part of special counsel \u2063Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation into Russiagate.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cProsecutors alleged that Kian and Flynn, \u2063who were partners in an\u2063 entity called the Flynn Intel Group, were acting at Turkey\u2019s behest when they\u2064 undertook a\u200c project to discredit exiled Turkish cleric \u200dFethullah Gulen,\u201d the AP reported.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cGulen has been sought for extradition from the U.S. by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who blames Gulen for\u200b an attempted coup in that country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, even though a jury found against \u200chim at trial, a judge overturned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/geraldo-rivera-gets-absolutely-torched-air-taking-shot-trump-jury-verdict\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the verdict<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a bitter pill for prosecutors who convinced a jury in Alexandria, Va., to return two \u2064felony guilty verdicts against Rafiekian \u2014 better\u200d known as Kian \u2014 following a \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elected-democrats-cry-racism-after-kyle-rittenhouse-is-found-not-guilty\/\" title=\"Elected Democrats Cry Racism After Kyle Rittenhouse Is Found Not Guilty\">week-long trial<\/a> in 2019\u200b and only about four hours of deliberations. Rafiekian chose not to\u200c take the stand during the trial,\u201d Politico reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever,\u200b U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Trenga \u2014 who presided \u2063over\u2064 the trial \u2014 soon became convinced that the \u200dguilty verdicts were not justified by the evidence prosecutors presented. He set aside the verdicts two months later, prompting years of additional litigation that included two \u200btrips to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, a Richmond-based circuit court sided with \u200cthe prosecution\u200c and dismissed Trenga\u2019s dismissal, although their ruling\u200d left\u200d Trenga \u2062with the option to declare a new trial.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, Trenga \u200ddid just that, saying <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/trump-prosecutor-gives-timetable-length-trial-will-need-dozens-witness-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that prosecutors<\/a> \u200c relied on only \u201cthe weakest\u2063 inference\u201d to make their case against Kian.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice apparently \u2064wasn\u2019t willing to use the feebly backed away\u200c from\u2062 the case in their Monday filing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter carefully considering the Fourth\u2062 Circuit\u2019s recent decision in this case \u2062and the principles of federal prosecution, the United States believes \u200cit is not in the public interest\u200c to pursue the case against \u2063defendant Bijan\u2062 Rafiekian further,\u201d wrote prosecutors from Justice\u2019s National Security Division and the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, Kian\u2019s attorneys\u2062 were in a celebratory mood, although they castigated the DOJ \u2064for targeting their client.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Justice Department has finally conceded that this case should never have been indicted,\u201d said defense lawyer Mark MacDougall in a statement after the DOJ announced it wasn\u2019t going forward with prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Rafiekian has been the target of baseless federal prosecution\u200c for the past five years, only because he made the poor decision to be in business with Michael Flynn. Along with his family and \u200chis lawyers, Bijan is particularly grateful to the Court for its unwavering commitment to equity and for ensuring that justice would be \u200cdone,\u201d MacDougall noted.<\/p>\n<p>The move essentially closes down\u200d the\u200d most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-once-thought-it-had-victory-against-trump-ally-years-later-its-being-forced-to-drop-the-case-and-turn-him-loose\/\" title=\"DOJ's Initial Victory Against Trump Ally Now Ends in Case Dismissal\">fruitless legal\u2063 fishing\u2062 expedition<\/a> since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/huge-trove-jfk-assassination-documents-finally-released-public-decades-secrecy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Garrison\u2019s JFK assassination indictments<\/a>; there\u2064 remains \u2064no evidence collusion \u200bbetween the Trump campaign and Russia\u2064 ever occurred, despite an unprecedented FISA warrant and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/historic-significance-of-georgia-senate-contests\/\" title=\"Historic Significance of Georgia Senate Contests\">special counsel investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What did they find? A \u2064whole \u2064lot of nothing. Even Robert Mueller, \u2063appearing before Congress to explain his final report in the matter, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mueller-sputters-front-congress-joe-scarborough-asks-forgiveness-republican\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">looked as if he was thoroughly\u2062 unclear<\/a> why he was even there in the \u200cfirst place.<\/p>\n<p>That hasn\u2019t stopped\u2064 the conspiracy theories. For a certain brand of liberal, there\u2019s\u200c near certainty that an ugly cabal which \u2062included the Kremlin, the Erdogan\u200c regime \u2064and Belarusian bot farms\u200d diligently plotted to steal what was rightfully Hillary Clinton\u2019s. After all, she\u2063 posted this on Twitter just before the election \u2014 so it must be true!<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Happy\u200d birthday to this\u200b future president. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JT3HiBjYdj\">pic.twitter.com\/JT3HiBjYdj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hillary Clinton\u2064 (@HillaryClinton) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HillaryClinton\/status\/791263939015376902?\">October 26, \u20622016<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>There \u2062was no\u2063 grand scheme between foreign powers that installed Donald \u2063Trump in the White House, no matter how many times Rachel Maddow rants about \u2063it. The jig was up long ago, and the last people to leave the party seem to be the prosecutors in the Kian case, who apparently had nothing better to do than drag \u200cthis apparently lifeless case out. Evidence? We don\u2019t need no stinkin\u2019 evidence.<\/p>\n<p>And people wonder why conservatives don\u2019t trust the establishment \u2014\u2063 particularly politically weaponized cases from corners of\u2064 the FBI and DOJ that are determined \u2062to nail something on Trump\u200d or\u200c his allies without checking whether the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/read-entire-explosive-50-million-gen-flynn-lawsuit-us-government\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">facts\u200c support\u200b the charges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/doj-thought-victory-trump-ally-years-later-forced-drop-case-turn-loose\/\">DOJ Once Thought It Had Victory Against\u2062 Trump \u2063Ally, Years Later It&#8217;s Being Forced to Drop \u200dthe Case and Turn Him \u200dLoose<\/a> appeared first on\u200b <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>claim victory in their investigation into alleged foreign influence over Donald Trump&#8217;s 2016 campaign. Politico reports that prosecutors have decided to release the defendant, giving up on the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":663,"featured_media":2029258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2029257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/663"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2029257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2029257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2029257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2029257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}