Judge Rao's intervention on Flynn's behalf reminded me of something, and I just remembered what it was ...

Auberon Waugh's introduction to his book on the Jeremy Thorpe trial of 1978. This is the trial that provided the plot for the miniseries, "A Very English Scandal."

Thorpe was guilty as could be, but acquitted thanks to his influential friends and connections. Waugh wrote:

This book "may be read, if people chose, as a gesture of atonement for ever having entertained the silly idea that a Privy Councillor, an MP, an Old Etonian, a barrister, a friend of prime ministers, archbishops, and high officials, a former client of Lord Goodman ...

... could ever be found guilty of conspiring to murder a homosexual male model of lower-middle class background .... "

Likewise, if you or I lied to the FBI about our dealings with Russian agents, we would be in a peck of trouble. But the rules were different for General Flynn.