Trump pardons former security adviser who lied to FBI about Russia links
President under fire from Democrats for coming to aid of retired general who had been facing a jail term
DONALD TRUMP last night pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser.
The retired Army lieutenant general had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Trump said: “It is my great honour to announce that General Michael T Flynn has been granted a full pardon. Congratulations to Gen Flynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving.”
The move made clear that Mr Trump would use the final days of his administration to take aim at the Russia investigation, which he has long maintained was motivated by political bias.
The investigation cast a shadow over his administration from the start and led to criminal charges against a half dozen of his associates.
Mr Trump’s supporters had championed the Flynn case and claimed he was the victim of an unfair, politically motivated prosecution.
In 2017, Flynn admitted lying during an FBI interview when asked about discussions he had held with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US at the time, in the weeks before Mr Trump was inaugurated.
Flynn denied to the FBI that he had talked with Mr Kislyak about sanctions imposed on Russia for election interference by the outgoing Obama administration.
During his conversation with Mr Kislyak, Flynn urged that Russia be “even-keeled” in response, and assured him “we can have a better conversation” about relations between the two countries after Mr Trump was in office.
At the time, the FBI was investigating whether the Trump campaign and Russia had colluded in relation to the election.
Flynn subsequently resigned after 23 days as national security adviser. He did
so after admitting giving “incomplete information” to Mike Pence, the vicepresident, about his phone calls with the Russian ambassador.
Flynn went on to co-operate with Robert Mueller’s investigation, which examined potential links between the Trump campaign and Russia. But Mr Trump continued to speak positively about Flynn and accused the FBI and US justice department of “destroying” the former general’s life.
Jerry Nadler, the Democrat chairman of the House judiciary committee, attacked the pardon.
He said: “The president’s enablers have constructed an elaborate narrative in which Trump and Flynn are victims and the constitution is subject to the whims of the president. Americans soundly rejected this nonsense when they voted out President Trump.”
Mark Warner, a Democrat senator
and vice-chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, accused Mr Trump of “pardoning his cronies”.
He said: “This is stunning but not surprising, this is undemocratic.”
The pardon spares Flynn the possibility of any prison sentence, which had not yet been imposed.
He had sought to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that he was tricked by prosecutors into making it.
It was the most high-profile pardon granted by Mr Trump so far. He had previously pardoned Army personnel accused of war crimes in Afghanistan.
In January, prosecutors had asked a judge to sentence Flynn to up to six months in prison.
They argued that “the defendant has not learnt his lesson” and “has behaved as though the law does not apply to him, and as if there are no consequences for his actions”.
Before becoming a prominent and early supporter of Mr Trump, Flynn had been head of the Pentagon’s defence intelligence agency.
He joined the Trump 2016 election campaign and on one occasion led supporters in chants of “Lock her up”, in reference to Hillary Clinton.
‘The president’s enablers constructed an elaborate narrative in which Trump and Flynn are victims’