Trump pardons Michael T. Flynn, his former National Security adviser
Through a message posted on Twitter, the outgoing President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced a pardon to his National Security adviser at the beginning of his term, General Michael T. Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying. to the FBI during the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
"It is my great honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a full pardon. Congratulations to him and his wonderful family, I know you are now going to have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving." That was the message that the US president posted on his Twitter account on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 25.
With these words, Trump pardoned General Michael T. Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, other high-ranking government officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about his contacts. with the Russian ambassador in Washington, Sergei Kisliak.
However, Flynn withdrew the statement and tried to dismiss the charges. His defense tried to argue that there was negligence among the prosecutors and investigators who handled the case. The general said that his rights had been violated and that he had been tricked into accepting an agreement. Since then, his sentence has not materialized and has been postponed several times.
Under the plea deal negotiated in 2017, Michael T. Flynn would face a maximum sentence of six months in jail in exchange for his cooperation with the investigation of prosecutor Robert Mueller, then charged with investigating Russian interference in the elections. presidential elections of 2016 that brought Trump to the White House.
For Trump, the accusations against Flynn were part of a "conspiracy" by the Democrats to destroy him and his Administration.
The plea deal that Flynn did not accept
General Michael T. Flynn was appointed national security adviser when Donald Trump arrived at the White House in January 2017. Three weeks later, the president fired him, without letting him begin his duties, just as a controversy over the military contacts with the then Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak.
Former special prosecutor Robert Mueller's extensive investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. elections looked into the alleged secret encounters between Flynn and Kislyak in December of that year.
Flynn was one of several former Trump aides who pleaded guilty or were convicted during Mueller's investigation into Moscow's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
This was a plea agreement that Flynn accepted to cooperate with the Government. However, days later he changed his lawyer and tactics, arguing that the prosecutors in the case had tricked him into lying about his conversations with Kislyak.
Despite Flynn's statement, Trump defended him and called the military man a "good man" and insisted that the investigation was a "witch hunt."
Months passed and in March of this year Trump announced that he was considering a full pardon for Flynn. According to the Reuters news agency, the president assured that the FBI and the Department of Justice had "destroyed" the life of the general and his family.
Before serving as Trump's National Security Advisor for just a few days in 2017, Flynn was the head of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, but was ousted in 2014 in part for his management and views on how to fight Islamist groups.
