QUE SURRATT SURRATT

On July 7, 1865 Lewis Powell, David Harold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt were hanged at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. John Wilkes Booth had already been killed by government troops. But the person who probably set the whole conspiracy up, John Surratt, Jr. was never punished at all.

If John Surratt had been captured shortly after the assassination he would almost certainly had been hung along with the rest. He certainly looked more responsible than his mother. He allegedly flew to Montreal. He was spotted in Europe in April 1866. He escaped again and was finally captured on a boat to Egypt.

But Surratt was tried by a civilian court, not a military tribunal. He hired highly skilled attorneys who argued that he only wanted to kidnap Lincoln, not kill him. The jury couldn’t reach a verdict. In the meantime, the statute of limitations had passed and Surratt was set free. He spent seven months in South American and then returned to the U.S. and went on the lecture tour. He openly admitted that he knew John Wilkes Booth and he knew of the plot to kidnap Lincoln, but claimed he didn’t know about the assassination. He lived to a ripe old age and died on April 21, 1916.

The point being that people who can delay being tried can often be successful at beating the rap, even when they are obviously guilty. Think of O.J. Simpson as an example of this. That brings us to Michael Flynn. He quickly plead guilty and was apparently close to being sentenced. But that was delayed, and delayed and delayed again. There are reports that he plead guilty to spare his son. Since Mueller investigation has been shut down, there is unlikely to be any continued threat to his family. Mueller is no longer in a position to indict anyone.

Flynn has fired his attorney and hired Sidney Powell. She is one tough cookie and is almost certain to take on the validity of the entire Mueller investigation. Based on some of the recent revelations, including the suppression of exculpatory evidence, it is possible that none of the indictments by the Mueller investigation will survive. If a judge rules that the investigation was tainted, all of the evidence is inadmissible. If documents recently disclosed in the media are accurate, it could be very hard to convict anyone of anything. That, by the way, is exactly what Sidney Powell predicted.

Almost anything could happen. It will probably take Ms. Powell about three months to just read the file. But, anyone remotely familiar with Sidney Powell would not bet against her. One thing is already certain; she absolutely believes that Flynn should withdraw his guilty plea. She even wrote a book called “Licensed to Lie” about corruption at the DOJ. At a minimum; this should be fun to watch.

TDM