DOJ Strikes Financial Settlement Deal With Ex-Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn

(AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

The U.S. Justice Department reached a financial settlement with President Donald Trump’s ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday in the $50 million lawsuit he brought against the government. Flynn claimed in his 2023 lawsuit that the FBI and federal prosecutors orchestrated a political witch hunt against him during its investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lawyers for both Flynn and the DOJ said the lawsuit would be dropped in return for “settlement funds,” according to a brief court filing in district court in Tampa, Florida.

Flynn admitted to making false statements to the FBI about having conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in 2016 and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian probe, but Flynn later withdrew that plea. He said the government had made a “bad faith” case against him that was built on “vindictiveness.”

The Justice Department moved to dismiss the case against him in 2020 while under the leadership of then-Attorney General William Barr. Flynn was later pardoned by Trump in 2020.

“Trump has repeatedly defended Flynn as an ‘innocent man’ who was unfairly targeted by rogue FBI officials during their investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which the president has long derided as a ‘hoax’ that was designed to undermine his presidency,” CBS News reported on Wednesday.

Flynn’s 2023 lawsuit said the DOJ “admitted that they should never have brought this prosecution against General Flynn because the interview that formed the basis of the criminal information should never have happened and, even though it did happen, it was not a proper basis for the felony charge.”

The settlement comes less than a week after Mueller died at the age of 81. Trump celebrated his death about 30 minutes after on Truth Social, posting: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

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