US President, Donald Trump, announced in a tweet Wednesday, November 25 that he has granted his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, a “full pardon,” cleaning off the guilty plea of Flynn who admitted to lying to the FBI.
The pardon comes as Trump enters his last days as President, after spending four years in office and showcases his rebuke for the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Since January 2017, the Flynn case has been among the defining sagas of Trump’s presidency and Attorney General William Barr’s leadership of the Justice Department.
The Justice Department recently said Flynn should never have been investigated by the FBI and that his lies to them in January 2017 were immaterial, while Flynn recanted his admissions of guilt.
The White House, in a statement following the President’s announcement, insisted on Flynn’s innocence, with press secretary Kayleigh McEnany saying “The President has pardoned General Flynn because he should never have been prosecuted”