Michael Flynn may get exonerated this week after President Donald Trump signaled he might pardon the former National Security advisor.
Maria Bartiromo wrote in a post on Twitter on Sunday saying that Flynn will be “completely exonerated this week,” adding, “It was a total fraud. A Set up.”
Breaking News: sources tell me @GenFlynn will be completely exonerated this week. It was a total fraud. A Set up. More tomorrow @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness @FoxNews @SundayFutures
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) April 26, 2020
Flynn, 61, pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1, 2017, for lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigations about his contact with Moscow’s then-ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislya, during President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Flynn was an advisor on the Trump campaign.
Trump wrote in a March 15 post on Twitter that he was “strongly considering” pardoning Flynn.
He wrote: “So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has ‘lost’ the records of General Michael Flynn. How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!”
So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has “lost” the records of General Michael Flynn. How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2020
In January, the Department of Justice recommended sentencing Flynn to six months in prison, after he tried to reverse his guilty plea and receive probation for cooperating with the government. Flynn maintains that he was set up.
Federal prosecutors at the time determined Flynn had “retreated from his acceptance of responsibility” and “therefore is not entitled to any such credit unless he clearly and credibly disavows those statements.”
The six-month prison recommendation was a reversal of their previous stance that Flynn should receive probation because of his cooperation with investigators in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the U.S. election process.
However, prosecutor Brandon Van Grack wrote in a 33-page court filing, that determined Flynn had not substantially assisted the government.
“It is within the government’s sole discretion to determine whether the defendant has ‘substantially assisted’ the government,” Van Grack wrote.
“In light of the complete record, including actions subsequent to December 18, 2018, that negate the benefits of much of the defendant’s earlier cooperation, the government no longer deems the defendant’s assistance ‘substantial,’” the court filing added.
Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell also said on Friday that Flynn was “set up and framed by corrupt agents at the top of the FBI.”
“This afternoon, the government produced to Mr. Flynn stunning Brady evidence that proves Mr. Flynn’s allegations of having been deliberately set up and framed by corrupt agents at the top of the FBI. It also defeats any argument that the interview of Mr. Flynn on January 24, 2017 was material to any ‘investigation.’ The government has deliberately suppressed this evidence from the inception of this prosecution—knowing there was no crime by Mr. Flynn,” Powell wrote in a supplemental filing.
“In addition, Mr. Flynn’s counsel has found further evidence of misconduct by [head prosecutor Brandon Van Grack] specifically,” the filing continues. “Not only did he make baseless threats to indict Michael G. Flynn, he made a side deal not to prosecute Michael G. Flynn as a material term of the plea agreement, but he required that it be kept secret between himself and the Covington attorneys expressly to avoid the requirement of Giglio v. United States , 405 U.S. 150 (1972). Exs. 1, 2.”
