Donald Trump is taking full advantage of his last moments in the White House. The outgoing US president announced Wednesday, November 25, that he had granted a pardon to his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the first of his relatives implicated in the Russian investigation.
The 61-year-old former general pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the Federal Police (FBI) about his contacts with a Russian diplomat. His sentence had never been pronounced because of many twists in this extremely politicized case.
The president finally decided to put an end to it definitively, using his right of pardon before his departure from the White House, scheduled for January 20. “It is my great honor to announce that General Michael Flynn has received a complete pardon”, he tweeted, as the press speculated for a few days on the subject.
The mercy of Donald Trump “Puts an end to the political and relentless pursuit of an innocent man”, justified the spokeswoman for the White House, Kayleigh McEnany, by presenting Michael Flynn as “Victim” of an attempt “Coordinated to overthrow the 2016 election”.
Democrats denounce “abuse of power”
“Donald Trump has regularly abused his power to reward his friends or protect those who covered him up, immediately denounced the elected Democrat Adam Schiff, who heads the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives. Unsurprisingly, Trump is leaving as he came: corrupt to the core. “
“This grace is unjustified, contrary to principles and leaves an additional stain” on Donald Trump’s record, also criticized the elected Democrat Jerry Nadler, who chairs the judicial committee of the House of Representatives.
The president had promised this pardon to urge Michael Flynn not to cooperate with federal investigators because it would have “Could expose his own misdeeds”, added Jerry Nadler, denouncing “An abuse of power which weakens the rule of law”.
A file permanently closed
Donald Trump, who today refuses to recognize Joe Biden’s victory in the November 3 presidential election, has always accused the Democrats of having orchestrated the investigation into the suspicions of an understanding between Moscow and his campaign team because they had not, according to him, digested their defeat in 2016. This sprawling investigation poisoned the first two years of his mandate before concluding with an absence of evidence of collusion, but six of his collaborators were indicted for charges various by investigators.
Among them, General Flynn had participated in the Republican’s victorious campaign and then had confidential exchanges with the Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergei Kisliak in December 2016. Having become a national security adviser, he had been questioned on January 24, 2017. by the FBI but he had concealed these contacts. He quickly had to resign for also lying to Vice President Mike Pence.
In 2017, Michael Flynn agreed to plead guilty to perjury and to cooperate with the Russian investigation. Threatened with a six-month prison sentence, he had changed lawyers and defense strategy in 2019. He had since requested the cancellation of the procedure, claiming to be the victim of manipulation.
In May, the Department of Justice, led by Bill Barr, one of Donald Trump’s strongest supporters, decided to drop the charges against him, a rare move when the accused admitted his wrongdoing. These could have been reopened by the administration of Joe Biden, but the presidential pardon definitively closes the file.
In July, Donald Trump had already commuted the sentence of another relative, his long-time friend and ex-advisor Roger Stone, convicted of trying to influence witnesses and of lying to Congress as part of the investigation. Russian.
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