DOJ, Flynn lawyers urge judge to move 'with dispatch' to dismiss charges

The Justice Department and Michael Flynn's defense team jointly asked a federal judge Friday to move "with dispatch" to complete a ruling on whether to dismiss the former Trump adviser's guilty plea and related criminal charge from the Russia probe.

The two sides, which agree the case should now be dismissed based on exculpatory evidence of innocence made public earlier this year, laid out a schedule in a joint status report to complete briefs, reports and hearings in September.

"The United States and General Flynn agree that this Court should resolve the pending motion to dismiss with dispatch," their report argued. "Any delay would harm both the government, which must expend resources on a case that it has determined should be dismissed, and General Flynn, who faces impairments on his liberty and the cloud of a pending prosecution that the Executive Branch seeks to end."

The filing came just days after the full DC Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a three-judge panel's decision and refused to grant a writ of mandamus that would have dismissed the charge against Flynn.

The appeals court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan and asked him to move quickly to resolve the matter.

Flynn withdrew his guilty plea nearly a year ago and the Trump DOJ concluded earlier this year that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecution of the former Trump national security adviser for lying to the FBI was unwarranted.