In a surprising turn on Thursday, the Department of Justice filed paperwork with a DC District Court to drop their charges against Michael Flynn. Flynn, who was Donald Trump’s first National Security Advisor, pled guilty on charges of lying to the FBI in 2017.
In the early days of the Mueller investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller flipped Flynn to his side after Trump fired him. Flynn was ejected from the White House after he lied about his contacts in Russia. Following this, Flynn cooperated with the FBI and the Mueller investigation.
However, in recent weeks, Flynn has signaled his desire to retract his earlier guilty plea. Apparently, internal memos from the FBI seem to suggest that the Bureau had a plan to entrap Flynn.
These memos include discussions about how to catch the former security advisor in a lie. One memo asks when Flynn should be reminded that lying to the FBI is a crime.
Several top FBI officials involved with the case quickly criticized the DOJ’s decision to drop charges against Flynn. Flynn admitted in front of two different federal judges that he had lied to the FBI. The lies involved phone calls to Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, which occurred after Trump was elected but before he was inaugurated.
The FBI investigated Flynn after they found out that he was negotiating with Russia before Trump took office. They initially stated they had no plans to prosecute him. However, when he lied about his contacts with the diplomat, the FBI decided to pursue charges against him.
Cloud back-up storage of the calls did not help the case. The FBI knew all about Flynn’s conversations with the diplomat.
The Department of Justice dropping charges against Flynn after these memos were made public is a big win for Trump. The president has sought to discredit FBI leadership since the time of the Mueller investigation. Trump adamantly denies that there was any connection between his campaign and Russia. However, Mueller’s investigation led to numerous indictments, including of Russian nationals.
The Mueller Report went public in 2018 after months of partisan sniping from Trump. Special Counsel Mueller himself remained quiet throughout the process. Following the publication of the report, he has largely stayed out of the public eye. Attorney General William Barr initially painted the report as a “complete exoneration” of the president.
However, in his findings, Mueller could not state with confidence that the Trump campaign had not conspired with Russia to get Donald Trump elected.
