The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped its case against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and former national…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped its case against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and former national security adviser to President Donald Trump.
Flynn pleaded guilty on Dec. 1,2017, to one count of lying during a Jan. 24,2017, interview with the FBI.
“Government has concluded that the interview of Mr. Flynn was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn—a no longer justifiably predicated investigation that the FBI had, in the Bureau’s own words, prepared to close because it had yielded an ‘absence of any derogatory information,’” said Timothy Shea, interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, in his May 6 motion to dismiss (pdf).
Since the government wasn’t “persuaded” that the FBI interviewed Flynn with “a legitimate investigative basis,” Flynn’s guilty plea was irrelevant—to be a crime, a lie needs to be “material,” which means it has to have “probative weight” on the investigated matter, Shea said.
“Moreover, we not believe that the Government can prove either the relevant false statements or their materiality beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The Flynn case has been a linchpin of scorn among Trump supporters against a number of mostly former top FBI officials involved in the investigation dubbed Crossfire Hurricane.
The probe, launched in 2016, was to determine whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to sway the presidential election. It was taken over in May 2017 by a special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who concluded in March 2019 that the probe was unable to establish any such collusion.
Several reviews of the Russia investigation uncovered a plethora of irregularities and malfeasance. At least some of the investigators themselves are currently under criminal investigation by U. S. Attorney John Durham.
Flynn responded to the news by posting on Twitter a video of his grandson reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
“My grandson Travis…’and JUSTICE for ALL,’” the retired general commented.
The dismissal of the Flynn case was recommended by Jeffrey Jensen, U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, who was directed in January by Attorney General William Barr to perform a review of the case.
“I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jensen said in a May 7 statement released by the DOJ. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.
