[ad_1]
Why is this coming now?
Presidents of the United States have the right to pardon anyone convicted of a federal crime, and most use that right, especially at the end of their term.
That Michael Flynn be pardoned is expected and logical, from Trump’s point of view; He also announced this summer that the decision would come.
The pardon can be interpreted as one more confirmation that loyalty is the quality that the president values most among his employees. After first admitting, Flynn has since claimed that he never lied to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, or that he was not meant to lie.
He never hinted that he had acted on Trump’s orders or even that the president knew what he was doing.
But since Trump has consistently claimed that Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s participation in the 2016 election was “a witch hunt,” it also stands to reason that he would pardon the top White House staff member convicted of crimes as a result. Of the investigation.
Who is Michael Flynn?
He is a 61-year-old former general in the United States Army, who served in the 1983 invasion of Grenada and later as an intelligence officer in both Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2012-14, he was director of DIA, the US military intelligence service.
After leaving the military, he was known to the general public as a close associate of Donald Trump during his campaign for the 2016 presidential election.
It was Flynn who led the choruses that demanded that Hillary Clinton be “locked up”, encouraged by a smiling Trump on stage.
How are the reactions in the United States to Trump’s decision?
Leading democratic politicians are furious.
Jerrold Nadler, one of the highest-ranking Democrats in the House of Representatives, calls the pardon “undeserved, unprincipled and one more stain on President Trump’s already sunken legacy.”
His party colleague Adam Schiff says Flynn chose “loyalty to Trump over loyalty to his country” and calls the decision “corrupt.”
“It’s no wonder Trump is leaving us the way he came in: corrupt in the end.”
That Democrats in Congress react so violently isn’t a surprise, either. Many of them invested great political energy and prestige in the Supreme Court against Trump, which in the end turned out to be a failure. They see this as the president’s revenge.
