I just commented elsewhere here abt this, and IDK for sure, but around December, 2019, the Judge seemed to flip from upstanding Judge w/ excellent reputation, to making accusations to Flynn and his attorney for unbelievable reasons (her plagiarism, him Treason), in open court! Just a seemingly psycho turn on both of them. So he must have gotten "the word" around that time? And I doubt he was given much of a choice, so I am guessing perhaps a life and death/family member type choice, which is allegedly what happened to Chaffetz years ago. (Someone who was close to the campaign of the opponent of a Senator in Utah told me about that, & I don't think she had any reason to say it, if it wasn't true).