The federal government wants to move former Trump national security adviser <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-flynn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Flynn</a>&#8216;s $50 million wrongful prosecution lawsuit from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida</a> to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/washington-d-c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington, D.C.</a>, where years ago a judge resisted the Department of Justice&#8217;s bid to drop its own criminal case against the retired Army lieutenant general.
DOJ lawyers <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.411523/gov.uscourts.flmd.411523.16.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed a motion</a> on Monday arguing that the Florida venue would likely make the legal matter &#8220;more expensive and less efficient.&#8221; Florida is less convenient, the filing claims, because relevant documents and most &#8220;key&#8221; witnesses are located in or around the D.C. area. Although DOJ attorneys acknowledge Flynn is a Florida resident, the government says all of the &#8220;acts and omissions&#8221; that form the basis of his lawsuit took place within the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The Daily Wire reached out to Flynn&#8217;s lawyers for comment.
Flynn, who served as Defense Intelligence Agency director under President Obama, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/630072166/Flynn#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed suit</a> in early March, seeking compensatory damages expected to exceed $50 million over allegations of malicious prosecution and abuse of process stemming back to the 2016 campaign, transition period, and Trump administration.
The lawsuit argues government officials conspired to &#8220;investigate, entrap, and prosecute&#8221; Flynn when former President Trump picked him to be his national security adviser. Federal agents were aware Flynn had the &#8220;authority and intelligence background to uncover and expose&#8221; the FBI&#8217;s Russia inquiry into Trump, the complaint says.
Over the course of Robert Mueller&#8217;s special counsel investigation, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents regarding conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and agreed to cooperate with the inquiry. However, in 2020, Flynn&#8217;s legal team moved to withdraw his guilty plea while accusing the government of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/14/michael-flynn-guilty-plea-withdraw-099021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acting in &#8220;bad faith&#8221;</a> and vindictiveness as it requested up to a six-month jail sentence, after which the DOJ <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/justice-dept-moves-to-void-michael-flynns-conviction-in-muellers-russia-probe/2020/05/07/9bd7885e-679d-11ea-b313-df458622c2cc_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sought to abandon the charges</a>. The legal matter was drawn out when a U.S. district judge in D.C. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/01/judge-in-michael-flynn-case-defends-decision-not-to-immediately-drop-criminal-case.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refused to dismiss the case</a>, but it came to a close with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-pardons-former-national-security-adviser-michael-flynn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump pardoning Flynn</a> in November 2020.
The controversy led to Flynn losing his national security adviser position within weeks of starting the role. Still, he has appeared in Trump&#8217;s orbit since that time.
Flynn has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-georgia-atlanta-michael-flynn-united-states-government-b70496141955732d4509949d4eee8c62" target="_blank" rel="noopener">come under scrutiny</a> by investigators looking into the events surrounding the U.S. Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, amid reports that he took part in a White House meeting that touched on declaring martial law, seizing voting machines, and making Flynn&#8217;s attorney in the false statements case, Sidney Powell, special counsel to investigate the 2020 election.
During remarks last month at a <a href="https://www.news-press.com/picture-gallery/news/2023/04/22/former-president-donald-trump-speaks-lee-county-republican-dinner/11718658002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lee County Republican dinner</a> in Fort Myers, Florida, Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1650158279245594625" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gave Flynn a shout-out</a> as the former president campaigns for another term in the White House.
&#8220;Stay in good health Michael,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Get ready, okay? It&#8217;s not long. A year and a half, Michael. Just stay healthy!&#8221;

Michael Flynn

DOJ Asks To Move Michael Flynn’s Wrongful Prosecution Lawsuit From Florida To D.C.

DOJ Asks To Move Michael Flynn's Wrongful Prosecution Lawsuit From Florida To D.C.

Florida

U.S.

Washington D.C.

Two of former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s relatives filed a $75 million defamation lawsuit against CNN on Thursday.
Flynn’s brother and sister-in-law, Jack and Leslie Flynn, sued the network in U.S. District Court in New York City for allegedly portraying them and their family as supporters of QAnon, an online conspiracy theory. The Flynns claimed that CNN deceptively edited footage in a Feb. 4 segment on the conspiracy to implicate the Flynn family, according to the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-flynns-brother-and-sister-in-law-jack-and-leslie-file-dollar75-million-defamation-suit-against-cnn">Daily Beast</a>. As the outlet reports:
<blockquote>The segment largely shows footage of a meeting of QAnon supporters, including the photogenic icon of the Capitol riot known as the QAnon Shaman, but also briefly shows video tweeted by Michael Flynn of a July 4th gathering of his extended family. In the video, the Flynns recite a pledge to the U.S. constitution and end it with “Where we go one, we go all,” a slogan so frequently used by QAnon adherents it appears as the abbreviation WWG1WGA on movement merchandise. Jack and Leslie Flynn contend, however, that the slogan is unrelated to the movement and that they are “not followers or supporters of any extremist or terrorist groups, including QAnon,” despite being allegedly inaccurately portrayed as such.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
CNN goes inside a gathering of QAnon followers. <a href="https://t.co/u7ZT0pokSo">https://t.co/u7ZT0pokSo</a> <a href="https://t.co/C7fK6SPpWb">pic.twitter.com/C7fK6SPpWb</a>
&mdash; CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNnewsroom/status/1357801350768308224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Michael Flynn served briefly as former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser before he resigned the post while under scrutiny for allegedly lying to the FBI. The allegation turned into legal charges and a court battle that lasted roughly three years and ended with a pardon from Trump.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” Trump tweeted on Nov. 25.
Prior to Trump’s pardon, the Department of Justice (DOJ) had moved to drop the charges against Flynn after a review of the case revealed that federal prosecutors had failed to turn over exculpatory evidence that undercut the DOJ&#8217;s case against him, according to former Attorney General William Barr.
“It’s on the question of materiality that we feel really that a crime cannot be established here because there was not, in our view, a legitimate investigation going on,” Barr said in a May interview explaining his decision to drop the case against Flynn. “They did not have a basis for a counterintelligence investigation against Flynn at that stage, based on a perfectly legitimate and appropriate call he made as a member of the transition.”
Despite the prosecution moving to drop the case, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan kept the case active and appointed an outside attorney to continue to prosecute the case. Sullivan had given no sign of wanting to close the case until Trump issued his pardon.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-doj-just-dropped-its-case-against-flynn-here-are-some-of-the-key-moments">The DOJ Just Dropped Its Case Against Flynn. Here Are Some Of The Key Moments</a>

Michael Flynn’s Family Files $75 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN

Donald Trump

William Barr

Shortly after former President Donald Trump won the 2016 election, his incoming national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn had several phone calls with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. The contents of that phone call, which should have been classified, were leaked to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who wrote a column about the phone calls implicating impropriety.
It ended up looking like someone from the Obama administration leaked the phone call to hamstring the incoming Trump administration by suggesting Flynn was breaking the law. The Ignatius column, as <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2021/01/20/michael-flynn-leak-investigation-closed/">noted</a> by The Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross, “set in motion a series of events that eventually led to Flynn pleading guilty in the special counsel’s investigation.”
It turned out that Flynn likely pleaded guilty to misremembering aspects of the forgettable phone call months later when questioned by FBI agents, who had a transcript of the call in front of them at the time. Flynn was questioned without an attorney present and later obtained a new attorney and rescinded his guilty plea. Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-pardons-former-national-security-adviser-michael-flynn">pardoned</a> Flynn on November 25.
An investigation was opened into whether Obama officials illegally leaked Flynn’s classified phone call to the press. The investigation, code-named Operation Echo, was apparently closed recently without any consequences, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/us/politics/richard-burr-stock-trades-investigation.html">reported</a>.
“Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington investigated whether the disclosures came from former Obama administration officials who had access to sensitive information about the phone calls, according to two people familiar with the investigation. The investigators ultimately found no wrongdoing, one of the people said,” the outlet wrote.
The leak of Flynn’s phone call may still be under investigation by special counsel John Durham, however.
The Times included the news about the Flynn investigation several paragraphs into an article about no charges being filed in a separate Department of Justice investigation – this one into Sen. Richard Burr’s stock trades early in the coronavirus pandemic.
“Tonight, the Department of Justice informed me that it has concluded its review of my personal financial transactions conducted early last year,” Burr said in a statement regarding the investigation. “The case is now closed. I’m glad to hear it. My focus has been and will continue to be working for the people of North Carolina during this difficult time for our nation.”
In addition to these two cases, the DOJ also closed an investigation into former Trump campaign adviser Walid Phares, who was accused of “secretly working on behalf of the Egyptian government in the months before Mr. Trump took office to influence the incoming administration,” the Times reported. No charges were filed against Phares.
After he was pardoned, Flynn <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-flynn-speaks-out-following-pardon-from-president-trump">spoke</a> to World View Weekend’s Brandon Howse, saying he believed he was targeted because Democrats lost the election in 2016.
“When they lost in 2016, I think that there was a decision to say, ‘We’re not going to allow this to happen again,’” Flynn said.

Federal Investigators Find No Wrongdoing In Leak Of Michael Flynn’s Phone Calls To Washington Post

A federal judge has dismissed the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn after months of resisting a Department of Justice request to drop the case.
Judge Emmet Sullivan dismissed charges against retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, ruling the case moot after President Donald Trump pardoned his former administration official on November 25. Sullivan has presided over the case since December 2017 after the DOJ charged Flynn with lying to the FBI.
“Pending before the Court are: (1) the government’s motion to dismiss the criminal information against Mr. Flynn with prejudice pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a) … and (2) the government’s notice of executive grant of clemency and consent motion to dismiss this case as moot,” Sullivan wrote in the dismissal, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/judge-dismisses-michael-flynn-case-following-trump-pardon">The Washington Examiner</a>. “Upon careful consideration of the motions, the applicable law, the entire record herein, and for the reasons explained below, the Court DENIES AS MOOT the government’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 48(a), and GRANTS the government’s consent motion based on the presidential pardon and DISMISSES this case AS MOOT.”
Trump announced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-pardons-former-national-security-adviser-michael-flynn">Flynn’s pardon</a> in a tweet, effectively ending the retired military officer’s three-year prosecution over allegedly lying to the FBI about a phone call he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December 2016 as the then-incoming national security adviser.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” Trump tweeted last month.
As The Daily Wire reported:
<blockquote>In December of 2017, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-doj-just-dropped-its-case-against-flynn-here-are-some-of-the-key-moments">Flynn</a> had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during a January interview with two agents, including former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, before reversing course in January of 2020 after replacing his legal team with attorney Sydney Powell. The Justice Department filed to have the charges against Flynn dropped later that year in May. The judge presiding over Flynn’s case has refused the department’s motion, however, keeping the case open.
Attorney General William Barr tapped U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Jeff Jensen, to work with DOJ prosecutor Brandon Van Grack to review the federal government’s materials in Flynn’s case in February. Several months later, Jensen recommended to Barr that the Justice Department drop its case against Flynn over exculpatory evidence that undercut the department’s case against the former national security adviser. Barr accepted Jensen’s recommendation.
“It’s on the question of materiality that we feel really that a crime cannot be established here because there was not, in our view, a legitimate investigation going on,” Barr said in a May interview explaining his decision to drop the case against Flynn. “They did not have a basis for a counterintelligence investigation against Flynn at that stage, based on a perfectly legitimate and appropriate call he made as a member of the transition.”</blockquote>

Judge Dismisses Case Against Michael Flynn After Trump Pardon

Former national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has given his first interview since he was pardoned by President Donald Trump last Friday.
Speaking with World View Weekend’s Brandon Howse on Saturday, Flynn <a href="https://www.worldviewweekend.com/tv/video/wvw-tv-exclusive-lt-general-michael-flynns-first-interview-president-trumps-pardon">said</a> that his targeting and the unprecedented level of contempt against Trump during his years in office was due to Democrats’ anger over their loss in 2016.
“When they lost in 2016, I think that there was a decision to say, ‘We’re not going to allow this to happen again,’” Flynn said.
He claimed that Democrats and their media supporters went to work trying to remove Trump from office before he even was inaugurated.
“I mean, I think what we experienced over the last four years—and certainly in the late-2016, early-2017 period—was a very strong effort to unseat a duly elected president,” Flynn said.
Flynn went on to suggest issues with the 2020 election, repeating claims made by Trump and his associates that are currently working through the courts, with limited success.
On Monday, the Justice Department released a copy of Trump’s pardon, which reads:
<blockquote>To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:
Be it known, that this day, I, Donald J. Trump, president of the united states, pursuant to my powers under article II, section 2, clause 1, of the constitution, have granted unto Michael T. Flynn a full and unconditional pardon for the charge of making false statements to Federal investigators, in violation of Section 1001, Title 18, United States Code, as charged in the Information filed under docket number 1:17-CR-00232-EGS in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; for any and all possible offenses arising from the facts set forth in the Information and Statement of Offense filed under that docket number or that might arise, or be charged, claimed, or asserted, in connection with the proceedings under that docket number; for any and all possible offenses within the investigatory authority or jurisdiction of the Special Counsel appointed on May 17, 2017, including the initial Appointment Order No. 3915-2017 and subsequent memoranda regarding the Special Counsel&#8217;s investigatory authority; and for any and all possible offenses arising out of facts and circumstances known to, identified by, or in any manner related to the investigation of the Special Counsel, including, but not limited to, any grand jury proceedings in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the Department of Justice to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington in the District of Columbia this twenty-fifth day of November in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-fifth.</blockquote>
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-flynn-family-thank-trump-for-pardon-tyranny-will-not-topple-us">reported</a>, Flynn and his family thanked Trump for the pardon.
“This ‘Pardon of Innocence’ is historic, sincerely appreciated &amp; should never happen in our country again. I will issue a personal statement later today. My family issued one yesterday,” Flynn said. “Thank you America. Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Let it be heard across this great country and around the world that tyranny will not topple us. Masks will not silence us. Threats will not stop us. Evil will not triumph. We are Americans. We stand on the shoulders of the greatest forces and heroes of bravery and courage the world has ever known. That is our legacy and our obligation to defend now, and for generations to come,” Flynn’s family said in a statement.

Michael Flynn Speaks Out Following Pardon From President Trump

Following his full pardon from President Donald Trump on Wednesday, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn thanked the president, calling the move a “Pardon of Innocence.”
Flynn tweeted Thursday morning his thanks to the president in a short message that included a bible verse.
“This ‘Pardon of Innocence’ is historic, sincerely appreciated &amp; should never happen in our country again. I will issue a personal statement later today. My family issued one yesterday,” Flynn said. “Thank you America. Happy Thanksgiving.”
He also mentioned 1 Chronicles 16:32-34, a bible verse that reads: “Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Let the trees of the forest sing, let them sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This “Pardon of Innocence” is historic, sincerely appreciated &amp; should never happen in our country again. I will issue a personal statement later today. My family issued one yesterday.
Thank you America 🇺🇸
Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 😀🇺🇸
1 Chronicles 16:32–34 💪🙏 <a href="https://t.co/6TIN2eh3JE">pic.twitter.com/6TIN2eh3JE</a>
— General Flynn (@GenFlynn) <a href="https://twitter.com/GenFlynn/status/1331934828812496898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Flynn’s family released a lengthier statement Wednesday after the president’s pardon.
“For four long years, our family and millions of American patriots stood arm-in-arm together with our brother, General Michael T. Flynn, fighting the vicious, deep-rooted corruption of government institutions and vengeful individuals intent on destroying General Flynn and our country in shameful defiance of justice and the Rule of Law. Those individuals have disgraced the United States of America. The perpetuation of this political persecution of General Flynn was further fermented by Judge Emmet Sullivan’s refusal to dismiss the fraudulent prosecution. Judge Sullivan’s inactions are a reprehensible assault against the Constitution and will live in infamy the world over and is his legacy,” the statement said.
“Today, the Flynn Family is grateful to President Donald J. Trump for answering our prayers and the prayers of a nation by removing the heavy burden of injustice off the shoulders of our brother Michael, with a full pardon of innocence. We thanks President Trump for recognizing our brother’s sacrifice in this battle for truth, our Constitution, our Republic and all that America stands for around the world – a true beacon of liberty. We are forever appreciative to President Trump for giving back to Michael his freedom in undoing a hideous wrong. Michael’s determination and resilience in the face of this battle exemplifies his decades of dedication to this nation as a Soldier and leader of men and women in service protecting the very rights he was denied,” the statement continued.
“Let it be heard across this great country and around the world that tyranny will not topple us. Masks will not silence us. Threats will not stop us. Evil will not triumph. We are Americans. We stand on the shoulders of the greatest forces and heroes of bravery and courage the world has ever known. That is our legacy and our obligation to defend now, and for generations to come,” the statement concluded.
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-apparently-considering-pardon-for-michael-flynn-report">reported</a>, documents released by the Justice Department to Flynn’s attorneys showed FBI agents knew Flynn wasn’t a Russian agent and that he didn’t lie during their meeting, yet he was prosecuted anyway as part of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation in Russian interference in the 2016 election, which included farcical allegations that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. Fired FBI director James Comey even admitted that the FBI interview with Flynn didn’t follow standard protocol. The FBI knew what Flynn discussed with Kislyak, yet they brought him in for questioning anyway. The FBI had a transcript of Flynn’s phone call; Flynn did not. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI but has since tried to rescind that plea. Many people plead guilty when they are innocent in order to avoid harsher sentences.

Michael Flynn, Family Thank Trump For Pardon: ‘Tyranny Will Not Topple Us’

President Trump pardoned his former national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, on Wednesday, ending Flynn’s three-year prosecution for allegedly lying to the FBI.
Trump announced the pardon on Twitter on Wednesday.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” Trump tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to <a href="https://twitter.com/GenFlynn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GenFlynn</a> and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1331706255212228608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In December of 2017, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-doj-just-dropped-its-case-against-flynn-here-are-some-of-the-key-moments">Flynn</a> had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during a January interview with two agents, including former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, before reversing course in January of 2020 after replacing his legal team with attorney Sydney Powell. The Justice Department filed to have the charges against Flynn dropped later that year in May. The judge presiding over Flynn’s case has refused the department’s motion, however, keeping the case open.
Attorney General William Barr tapped U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Jeff Jensen, to work with DOJ prosecutor Brandon Van Grack to review the federal government’s materials in Flynn’s case in February. Several months later, Jensen recommended to Barr that the Justice Department drop its case against Flynn over exculpatory evidence that undercut the department’s case against the former national security adviser. Barr accepted Jensen’s recommendation.
“It’s on the question of materiality that we feel really that a crime cannot be established here because there was not, in our view, a legitimate investigation going on,” Barr said in a May interview explaining his decision to drop the case against Flynn. “They did not have a basis for a counterintelligence investigation against Flynn at that stage, based on a perfectly legitimate and appropriate call he made as a member of the transition.”
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan refused to sign off on the DOJ’s motion to dismiss, instead appointing an outside attorney to prosecute the case against Flynn. The case has since been appealed to the federal Court of Appeals and remanded back to a trial judge.
On Wednesday, Flynn’s attorney Powell said that she had asked Trump not to pardon the retired general as she fought for his case to be dismissed.
“The pardon of Michael Flynn is solely up to the President, but given the corruption we have witnessed in the judiciary and multiple agencies of government executed against General Flynn, this persecution should end,” Powell said in a statement to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/25/trump-pardons-michael-flynn-in-fbi-lie-case.html">CNBC</a>. “The FBI and [Department of Justice] have been a national embarrassment for more than 15 years.”
“It was my fervent hope to make our judicial system work to exonerate an innocent man — as all the Left would want were he anyone but Trump or Michael Flynn, but enough is enough. This is sick. It’s painfully obvious Judge Sullivan is playing an evil political game with a good man’s life and family,” Powell said.
This article has been expanded after publication to include additional information.

President Trump

Trump Pardons Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn

President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to pardon former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was accused of lying to the FBI after agents met with him to discuss a phone call he had with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Axios reported Tuesday evening that two sources close to Trump said the president was considering a pardon for Flynn, whom the FBI described as “forthright” during their interview.
“Sources with direct knowledge of the discussions said Flynn will be part of a series of pardons that Trump issues between now and when he leaves office,” Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-pardon-michael-flynn-131c78e2-eb58-4294-9ca1-3c5fb00bf96e.html">reported</a>.
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/justice-department-finds-new-notes-from-peter-strzok-regarding-michael-flynn-believed-to-be-highly-exculpatory">reported</a>, documents released by the Justice Department to Flynn’s attorneys showed FBI agents knew Flynn wasn’t a Russian agent and that he didn’t lie during their meeting, yet he was prosecuted anyway as part of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation in Russian interference in the 2016 election, which included farcical allegations that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. Fired FBI director James Comey even admitted that the FBI interview with Flynn didn’t follow standard protocol. The FBI knew what Flynn discussed with Kislyak, yet they brought him in for questioning anyway. The FBI had a transcript of Flynn’s phone call; Flynn did not. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI but has since tried to rescind that plea. Many people plead guilty when they are innocent in order to avoid harsher sentences.
Others who have lied to the FBI, such as former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, were never charged.
Several pages of notes from different FBI agents showed the FBI acted inappropriately in dealing with Flynn. Documents unsealed earlier this year included notes written by former FBI general counsel James A. Baker questioned why Flynn was being interviewed when the probe was about to be shut down. Baker asked if the Flynn interview was about “Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
Another page of notes, believed to be written by ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok, asking FBI leadership not to shut down the investigation into Flynn. Journalist John Solomon previously reported on a court filing from Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin.
“This page of notes was taken by former Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok. While the page itself is undated; we believe that the notes were taken in early January 2017, possibly between January 3 and January 5,” Sherwin wrote in his court filing to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has refused to dismiss charges against Flynn even though the U.S. Department of Justice <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-doj-dropping-criminal-case-against-michael-flynn">dropped its case</a> against Flynn. An appeals court previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-appeals-court-orders-judge-to-drop-charges-against-michael-flynn">ordered</a> Sullivan to drop the charges against Flynn.
“A source directly familiar with the discovery of the document told Just the News they include one paragraph of notes believed to be taken around Jan. 4, 2017, the date Strzok relayed a request from FBI leadership to the lead agent in the Flynn case asking him not to shut down the investigation as had been planned. The notes are ‘highly exculpatory,’ the source said, declining to describe them more fully because they are under seal,” Solomon reported.
In July, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-documents-suggest-fbi-knew-flynn-wasnt-trying-to-deceive-trump-responds">reported</a> that documents provided to Flynn’s attorneys showed the FBI knew Flynn wasn’t trying to deceive, and prosecutors struggled with the decision to charge him.

Trump Apparently Considering Pardon For Michael Flynn: Report

Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that former FBI Director James Comey &#8220;acted unilaterally&#8221; in investigating former White House national security advisor Michael Flynn, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sally-yates-james-comey-rogue-flynn-interview">per Fox News</a>, and that she and others were upset when told Comey had initiated a probe into Flynn&#8217;s potential interactions with Russian officials.
The bombshell came as Senate Republicans undertake a probe into how the FBI came to investigate Flynn and others affiliated with the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and the Trump transition team in connection with a possible Russian plot to subvert the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Although Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney John Durham is already looking into the origins of the so-called &#8220;Russian collusion&#8221; investigation, Senate Republicans have launched their own investigation, determined to discover whether the Obama administration targeted Trump-aligned officials without evidence of potential wrongdoing.
In her testimony Tuesday, Yates seemed to place the blame on former FBI director Comey, whom she said went &#8220;rogue&#8221; in investigating Michael Flynn.
&#8220;Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that when the FBI interviewed then-incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn in January 2017, it was done without her authorization, and that she was upset when she found out about it,&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sally-yates-james-comey-rogue-flynn-interview">Fox News reported</a>.
<blockquote>&#8220;I was upset that Director Comey didn&#8217;t coordinate that with us and acted unilaterally,&#8221; Yates said.
&#8220;Did Comey go rogue?&#8221; Graham asked.
&#8220;You could use that term, yes,&#8221; Yates agreed.</blockquote>
Yates, Fox News said, learned about Comey&#8217;s investigation into Flynn&#8217;s discussions with a Russian ambassador in an Oval Office meeting with then-President Barack Obama.
&#8220;That meeting, which took place on Jan. 5, 2017, was of great interest to Graham, who wanted to know why Obama knew about Flynn&#8217;s conversations before she did. Graham and other Republicans have speculated that Obama wanted Flynn investigated for nefarious purposes,&#8221; Fox News noted. &#8220;Yates claimed that this was not the case, and explained why Obama was aware of the calls at the time.&#8221;
&#8220;The purpose of this meeting was for the president to find out whether – based on the calls between Ambassador Kislyak and Gen. Flynn – the transition team needed to be careful about what it was sharing with Gen. Flynn,&#8221; Yates told Graham.
The Obama-era FBI has long contended that Flynn improperly engaged with Sergey Kislyak before President Trump took up residence in the White House. Flynn and the Trump administration say that, as a key member of Trump&#8217;s transition team, Flynn was simply collaborating with a key foreign policy official whose government would be impacted by the changeover in power.
Flynn, for his part, is embroiled in an appeals process. Although the Department of Justice has demanded perjury charges be dropped against the former national security official after information came to light suggesting that FBI agents hoodwinked Flynn in a White House interview, courts have disagreed as to how to proceed with the case, and Flynn is currently appealing a decision to maintain his charges to a higher court.
Yates will testify much of the day on Wednesday.

sally yates

Sally Yates Tells Congress That Comey Went ‘Rogue’ On Flynn Investigation, Hid Probe From Colleagues

James Comey

Sally Yates

The D.C. Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear the case against retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the court announced on Thursday.
The court’s decision prolongs an already three-year legal battle between Flynn and the Department of Justice that federal prosecutors <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-doj-dropping-criminal-case-against-michael-flynn">asked</a> to be closed with all charges dropped back in May. Federal District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan denied a request to immediately dismiss the case and instead brought in a retired judge to assess and potentially continue the prosecution.
Oral arguments in the D.C. Circuit Court are scheduled for August 11.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NEWS: The full DC Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear the Michael Flynn case. Oral arguments for the en banc review are scheduled for Aug. 11. <a href="https://t.co/xt96W7Ja0D">pic.twitter.com/xt96W7Ja0D</a>
&mdash; Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) <a href="https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1288869925642276866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The wrangling between Flynn’s defense, the DOJ, and Sullivan has continued for weeks as the defendant and prosecutors push to drop the case in light of evidence suggesting that the FBI unjustly targeted Flynn for investigation and fabricated evidence against him. Sullivan has so far refused to drop the case.
The DOJ’s request to drop the case was made on a recommendation from U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, whom Attorney General William Barr assigned to review the case in February.
“Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jensen said. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.”
Jensen’s review turned up handwritten notes purportedly made by the FBI’s former head of counterintelligence, Bill Priestap, that suggest the FBI’s top brass sought to entrap Flynn in a Jan. 24, 2017, meeting between Flynn and two FBI agents.
“What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” read the notes, written after a meeting between Priestap, former FBI director James Comey, and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
“I don’t see how getting someone to admit their wrongdoing is going easy on him,” the notes continue. “If we get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act, give facts to DOJ + have them decide.”
Other documents suggest that FBI top brass intervened into an investigation into Flynn in order to keep it open after FBI agents assigned to investigate Flynn wanted to close the probe for lack of evidence of any violations.
In early July of this year, the DOJ turned over documents to Flynn’s defense team that Flynn attorney Sidney Powell <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-documents-suggest-fbi-knew-flynn-wasnt-trying-to-deceive-trump-responds">says</a> show “prosecutorial misconduct” and that FBI officials purposely lied about how Flynn conducted himself in the 2017 interview in order to charge him with lying to federal agents.
“These documents establish that on January 25, 2017 — the day after the agents ambushed him at the White House — the agents and DOJ officials knew General Flynn’s statements were not material to any investigation, that he was ‘open and forthcoming’ with the agents, that he had no intent to deceive them, and that he believed he was fully truthful with them,” Powell said in a filing.

Federal Court Agrees To Rehear Flynn Case

The most recent trove of declassified documents shows the FBI used the pretense of a defensive briefing as an opportunity to spy on President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
The Federalist <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/23/declassified-documents-show-fbi-used-defensive-briefing-in-2016-to-spy-on-donald-trump/#.XxoHAzWE1CQ.twitter">reported</a> that the documents, which were declassified Wednesday by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and provided to senators on the Finance and Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committees, are just the latest to show how far the FBI was willing to go to make a case against the Trump campaign.
“In one of the documents declassified and released on Wednesday, FBI supervisory Special Agent Joe Pientka wrote that he deliberately used the briefing to ‘actively listen for topics or questions’ from Trump ‘regarding the Russian Federation.’ Rather than provide the Trump campaign a specific warning that certain campaign principals were being targeted by Russian intelligence, the FBI instead gave a general, non-specific warning that foreign intelligence services might eventually target the campaign,” the outlet reported. “Pientka’s written summary of the briefing noted that Trump, Michael Flynn, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were the only three Trump campaign members in attendance. Christie’s attendance had not previously been disclosed. The August 17, 2016 meeting came the day after the FBI opened a formal counterintelligence investigation against Flynn and just two days after FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok texted his former lover, FBI attorney Lisa Page, about an ‘insurance policy’ he had designed to keep Trump from becoming president.”
Pientka wrote in his notes that the meeting lasted roughly two hours, during which time he spent just 13 minutes providing the Trump campaign members a warning about foreign interference. He then complained about other intelligence officials not having enough time to provide the campaign with their own material suggesting foreign interference.
“Due to time constraints, not all ODNI briefers presented their material,” Pientka wrote, ignoring the fact that he used the meeting to spy on the Trump campaign. He didn’t address whether that may have kept other intelligence officials from providing their information to the campaign.
Pientka, according to a report from the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), “was selected to provide the FBI briefings, in part, because Flynn, who was a subject in the ongoing Crossfire Hurricane investigation, would be attending the Trump campaign briefing.” Pientka told the OIG that he was sent to the meeting to “record” or “overhear” from the attendees “any kind of admission” that they were colluding with Russia to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. Pientka also wanted to study Flynn’s “overall mannerisms” to potentially use as a base against him in the future.
Pientka was present during the FBI’s interview on January 24, 2017, where agents questioned Flynn about a phone call from months earlier with then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. Even though the FBI already had a transcript of the phone call, they questioned Flynn to try to trip him up so they could charge him with lying. The charges against Flynn were dropped earlier this year.

Trump campaign

New Documents Show FBI Used A Briefing To Spy On The Trump Campaign In 2016

Peter Strzok

Russia

On Tuesday, President Trump, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-michael-flynn-back-to-white-house-roger-stone/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&amp;linkId=93964213">asked by CBS News</a> whether he would welcome former national security advisor Michael Flynn to the White House, answered bluntly, &#8220;I would. I think he&#8217;s a great gentleman.”
Trump was speaking to CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge as he added, “He&#8217;s a great — he&#8217;s been in the military for many, many decades, actually. Highly respected. What General Flynn went through is so unfair.&#8221;
Flynn served as Trump’s first national security advisor; he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/us/politics/donald-trump-national-security-adviser-michael-flynn.html">resigned</a> on February 13, 2017, after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/us/politics/donald-trump-national-security-adviser-michael-flynn.html">saying</a> he had given “incomplete information” vis-à-vis a telephone call he had with Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn <a href="https://apnews.com/f5ab3e3c75304b9bbe1e4b32322b3faf/Trump-alters-story-on-why-he-fired-Flynn">pled guilty</a> to lying to the FBI, a plea that Flynn later <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/michael-flynn-moves-withdraw-guilty-plea-after-doj-flips-prison-n1115761">attempted to withdraw</a> in January 2020. Flynn’s sentence was delayed after he agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s investigation targeting Russian interference in the 2016 election. But new evidence surfaced in 2020 that the FBI may have acted inappropriately in Flynn’s case.
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-documents-suggest-fbi-knew-flynn-wasnt-trying-to-deceive-trump-responds?%3Futm_source=twitter">reported</a> earlier this week:
<blockquote>An attorney for former national security adviser Michael Flynn says new documents show the FBI knew Flynn wasn’t trying to lie during his January 24, 2017, interview, yet they concocted a criminal case against him anyway. Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-10/flynn-judge-gets-reprieve-as-court-weighs-new-dismissal-hearing">reported</a> that the U.S. Department of Justice gave Flynn 14 new pages of documents, which his attorney, Sidney Powell, said in a filing amounts to prosecutorial misconduct.
“These documents establish that on January 25, 2017 &#8212; the day after the agents ambushed him at the White House &#8212; the agents and DOJ officials knew General Flynn’s statements were not material to any investigation, that he was ‘open and forthcoming’ with the agents, that he had no intent to deceive them, and that he believed he was fully truthful with them,” Powell wrote in the filing …
The charges against Flynn <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-doj-dropping-criminal-case-against-michael-flynn">were dropped</a> on May 7, citing “a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information.” The DOJ argued that Flynn’s January 2017 interview was “untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”</blockquote>
Trump told Herridge of Flynn, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s going to need a pardon because he&#8217;s been proven to be innocent. I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s going to need a pardon.&#8221; He added, “You have to understand. I was given information that he lied.&#8221;
In late June, Powell and another attorney for Flynn, Jesse Binnall, reacted to the news that handwritten notes by ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok in January 2017 appeared to indicate former Vice President Joe Biden brought up the idea of investigating former national security advisor Michael Flynn, according to attorneys representing Flynn.
The attorneys said that Strzok&#8217;s notes indicated that Biden thought Flynn might have violated the Logan Act when he conversed with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, according to court papers that had been filed. &#8220;The previously sealed document also says that former President Barack Obama told top members of his administration that ‘the right people’ should investigate Flynn,&#8221; <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/06/24/biden-may-have-personally-raised-idea-to-investigate-flynn/amp/">the New York Post</a> reported.
Binnall and Powell, calling the new revelation “stunning and exculpatory evidence,” stated, “According to Strzok’s notes, it appears that Vice President Biden personally raised the idea of the Logan Act. That became an admitted pretext to investigate General Flynn.”

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