Donald Trump has taken advantage of the twilight of his mandate to grant a controversial pardon to former National Security Councilor Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to false testimony to the FBI in investigations of the Russian plot, the interference of the Kremlin in the 2016 presidential elections The Trump Administration had already tried to save General Flynn last spring through the attorney general, William Barr, who in the past decided to drop the charges despite his confession, a controversial decision that the supervising judge of the case, Emmet G. Sullivan, decided to suspend to review it.
Now, the Republican president has used the presidential powers he retains until January 20 to free him.
Last July he already commuted the sentence imposed on former adviser Roger Stone also for lying to Congress in the framework of these investigations.
“It is a great honor for me to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a full pardon.
Congratulations to General Flynn and his wonderful family.
I know they will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving! ”Trump announced on his Twitter account.
Flynn was the first to be disgraced by the Russian plot.
On February 13, 2017, when he had not been in office for a month and the Trump Administration had just started, he had to resign when it was discovered that he had hidden from another member of the Government his contacts with the Russian ambassador in Washington, Sergei Kislyak .
Flynn had had conversations with Kislyak during the month of December, when Barack Obama was still in the White House, and also lied about the nature of those conversations, since they related to the sanctions that the Democrat had imposed for espionage.
The prosecution of the general changed the pace on several occasions.
In late 2017, Flynn admitted his guilt for lying to the feds about his contacts with Moscow and began to collaborate with the investigation of special prosecutor Robert S. Mueller, in charge of the independent macro-investigation of the Russian plot, in the hope of cooperation. a more benevolent sentence was in store for him.
Earlier this year, however, Flynn swerved, withdrew that statement, and accused the feds of having acted in "bad faith."
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