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Donald Trump is reportedly planning to pardon his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Axios and The New York Times have reported that the planned pardon is one of the numbers the Republican president is considering.
Trump could still change his mind, but if he grants Flynn a clemency, it would be the highest-profile clemency issued by the president since he took office.
Trump and Flynn in the election campaign in September 2016
Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump in the election earlier this month, but the president has formally refused to concede, claiming without evidence that there was widespread electoral fraud.
However, on Monday he gave the green light for federal funds to begin flowing to Biden so that he can carry out his transition duties before he takes office on January 20.
Flynn, a retired army general, pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about interactions he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States in the weeks leading up to Trump’s inauguration.
Since then, he has tried to withdraw the guilty plea, arguing that prosecutors violated his rights and tricked him into agreeing to a settlement.
Flynn was one of several former Trump advisers who pleaded guilty or were convicted in the trial of former special counsel Robert.
The Mueller investigation into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US elections to boost Trump’s candidacy.
George Papadopoulos was jailed for 14 days in 2018
Trump said in March that 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.
The president has always claimed that he and his campaign team were illegally attacked.
Other team members you may consider for a pardon include George Papadopoulos and Paul Manafort.
January 2017: Trump in the Oval Office with Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, Chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon, Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn
In 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his 2016 contacts related to US-Russian relations before the election.
Manafort was convicted in 2018 of hiding millions of dollars of income earned from political consulting in Ukraine.
The power of forgiveness, which comes from the Constitution of the United States, is one of the most extensive available to a president.
In 2018, Trump even said he had an “absolute right” to forgive himself, a claim that many constitutional law scholars question.
But he could try to pre-emptively pardon himself to cover the possibility of prosecution after he leaves office in January.
There has also been speculation that the president would preemptively pardon his personal attorney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether Giuliani violated lobbying laws at his businesses in Ukraine.
