US President Donald Trump plans to pardon his former national security adviser Michael Flynn before he leaves office, according to multiple media reports. In early March, Trump said he was seriously considering a full pardon for Flynn. He said the FBI and the Justice Department had “destroyed” Flynn’s life and that of his family.
Trump has already commuted the sentence of his longtime adviser and aide Roger Stone. His former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, is still in home confinement while serving a prison sentence. All three are connected to the Mueller report, which was an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow.
Here’s everything you need to know about Michael Flynn and the politics of his forgiveness:
Who is Michael Flynn?
Flynn, who called for the imprisonment of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Republican convention, served in the military for 33 years and eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant general before his retirement in 2014. He was chief of military intelligence as director. of the Defense Intelligence Agency in the Obama administration.
Following this, he briefly served as Trump’s first national security adviser and was elected despite the fact that President Obama had repeatedly warned Trump not to hire him, citing “deep concerns.” During the Mueller investigation, the FBI interviewed Flynn in January 2017 about his relationship with Russia, after which he resigned 24 days after the new administration.
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What is Flynn accused of?
Prosecutors alleged that Flynn “deliberately and knowingly made materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to FBI agents during an interview in January 2017 about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. Because of this, Flynn faced criminal charges and was the first to be prosecuted during the Mueller investigation.
In December 2017, Flynn entered into a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller to plead guilty to a felony of making false statements to the FBI “willfully and knowingly” and agreed to cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation. But in January 2020, Flynn moved to withdraw his guilty plea, alleging the government’s revenge and breach of the plea deal. In May 2020, the United States Department of Justice led by Attorney General William Barr announced that it intended to drop all charges against Flynn.
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What is the policy behind informed pardon?
If Trump grants a clemency to Flynn, it would be the highest-profile clemency issued by the president since he took office. The pardon will also be personal for Trump, who called the Mueller investigation a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.” Through clemency, Trump will be able to portray Flynn and, most importantly, himself as the victim of the Mueller investigation and insiders from Washington.
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