DOJ Drops Michael Flynn Prosecutionclic pic for story![[Linked Image from media.breitbart.com]](https://media.breitbart.com/media/2020/05/Donald-Trump-and-Michael-Flynn-Getty-640x480.jpg)
The Department of Justice is reportedly dropping its prosecution of former National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn (Ret.), according to the Associated Press.
The news comes a week after new evidence released to Flynn’s lawyers showed FBI agents apparently attempting to trap Flynn into lying to them, hoping he would be prosecuted or fired. The evidence also suggested they knew he had not committed a separate crime.
Earlier Thursday, prosecutor Brandon Van Grack withdrew from the case.
Flynn had been director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama but was fired. He then joined Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, shaping its foreign policy and introducing Trump at rallies.
After Trump won, Flynn shaped the national security policies of the incoming administration and was picked to serve as National Security Adviser. In that capacity, he held conversations with foreign officials, including then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak were picked up by wiretaps of the ambassador, and his name was “unmasked” by Obama administration officials in transcripts of the conversations, which were leaked to the Washington Post. At the same time, the Obama Department of Justice investigated Flynn under the Logan Act of 1799, which prevents private citizens from conducting diplomacy but is rarely enforced.
Though the FBI found no evidence of wrongdoing — as shown in documents produced by the FBI to Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, last week — senior officials kept the case open.
Then-FBI Director James Comey sent FBI agents to meet with Flynn informally at the White House, hoping to trap Flynn into lying about his conversations with Kislyak.
The controversy concerned a question about whether Flynn discussed the Obama administration’s sanctions against Russia for election interference. Flynn allegedly denied doing so, though the transcript suggested that he had.
Flynn resigned from the administration after apparently misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Kislyak.
He was later prosecuted for lying to the FBI, and pleaded guilty, under pressure and on the advice of his former counsel from Covington and Burling LLP. He had to sell his house to pay his legal fees.
At the time, Flynn’s prosecution was seen by Democrats and the media as the foundation for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of supposed “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia.
But Mueller found no evidence of “collusion,” and as evidence began to emerge of misconduct by the FBI and the DOJ, Flynn moved earlier this year to withdraw his guilty plea.
In February, Attorney General William Barr appointed an outside prosecutor, Jeffrey Jensen, to review the DOJ’s case against Flynn. Under closer scrutiny, the FBI released more documents — and the prosecution began to unravel.
The case against Flynn is now over.
President Donald Trump rejoiced at the White House to the news that the Justice Department had abandoned his production case of his former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn.
“I’m very happy for Gen. Flynn, he was a great warrior, and he still is a great warrior, now in my book he’s an even greater warrior,” Trump said.
The Justice Department announced their decision Thursday to drop the criminal case against Flynn, just days after documents revealed the FBI tried to get him to lie or get him fired in an interview with agents. Earlier Thursday, prosecutor Brandon Van Grack withdrew from the case.
“He was an innocent man, he is a great gentleman, he was targeted by the Obama administration, he was targeted in order to try and take down a president and what they’ve done is a disgrace, and I hope a big price is going to be paid,” he said.
President Trump indicated he was always confident that the prosecution in Flynn’s case would fall apart and again berated the Obama Justice Department for their efforts to smear his former advisor.
“I hope a lot of people are going to pay a big price because they are dishonest crooked people, they’re scum … they’re scum, they’re human scum,” Trump said, calling their actions “treason.”
He also blamed the media for working with the Obama administration who received Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting on the case should be forced to give them back.
“Their partner, very complicit is a thing called the media, the media is totally guilty, all those writers and so-called journalists, they’re not journalists, they’re thieves,” he said, adding, “It was fake news, those Pulitzer Prizes should be given back immediately.”
The president spoke about Flynn’s case in a meeting with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday afternoon at the Oval Office.
The Justice Department announced their decision Thursday to drop the criminal case against Flynn, just days after documents revealed the FBI tried to get him to lie or get him fired in an interview with agents. Earlier Thursday, prosecutor Brandon Van Grack withdrew from the case.
The president has frequently cited Flynn’s prosecution as the result of “dirty cops” led by then-FBI Director James Comey, predicting last week that his former adviser would get exonerated.
“Dirty cops tormented General Flynn. General Flynn is a fine man, 35 years or so in the military. You don’t get to be where he is by being bad, that, I can tell you,” he said.
