Donald Trump plans to pardon his former National Security adviser, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian diplomat, US media reported Tuesday, November 24.
Axios and the
New York Times
both cited unnamed sources that Donald Trump intends to include former General Flynn in a series of pardons granted in the final days of his presidency.
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Michael Flynn's secret talks with the Russian Ambassador to Washington in December 2016, before Donald Trump's inauguration, were a cornerstone of the subsequent investigation by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller into suspected collusion. between Donald Trump's campaign team and Russia.
After more than two years of investigation, Robert Mueller's team had found no evidence of the existence of such collusion.
Michael Flynn was forced to resign just 22 days after becoming Donald Trump's National Security Advisor.
The president, however, has always claimed that the investigation was a
political
"witch hunt"
and that the former army general and former head of the DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, was a
"good man"
.
After participating in Donald Trump's campaign, Michael Flynn had confidential exchanges with the Russian ambassador in Washington, Sergei Kisliak, in December 2016. Having become a National Security adviser, he was questioned on January 24, 2017 by the federal police but had concealed these contacts.
He quickly had to resign for also lying to Vice President Mike Pence.
In 2017, Michael Flynn agreed to plead guilty to perjury and to cooperate with the investigation into suspicion of collusion with Russia.
Flynn considers himself a victim of manipulation
Last year, threatened with a six-month prison sentence, he had changed lawyers and defense strategy.
Since then he has been asking for the procedure to be canceled, claiming to be the victim of manipulation.
Exceptionally, the US Department of Justice withdrew its complaint against Michael Flynn last May, believing that the investigation against the former general had no
"legitimate basis"
and that his statements,
"nevertheless they would be false, did not matter ”
.
The ministry thus offered a political victory to Donald Trump, who repeated that Michael Flynn
"was innocent".
A federal judge, however, has requested a judicial review of the case.
A pardon granted by Donald Trump would remove this case from the jurisdiction of the courts.