President Donald Trump has given General Michael Flynn a pardon. Fox News. General Flynn was arrested and charged for lying to the FBI about talking to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn was fired for it and plead guilty for the charges. However, it was later revealed that there was a plot against Flynn by the FBI who planned to get him fired and prosecuted by entrapping him into a lie. The case was to be dropped by the prosecution after the release of this evidence but Judge Emmet Sullivan refused to allow it.
My Comment:
I think this is long overdue. General Flynn was the target of a campaign to remove him from his office as National Security Advisor. Once the information was released about what the FBI had done he should have been pardoned. Of course I don't think anyone was expecting the unprecedented actions that Judge Emmet Sullivan took to prevent the charges from being dropped.
However, even if the plot hadn't existed I don't think Flynn should have been charged. Though he wasn't completely honest with the FBI it was likely either a good faith mistake, a problem with his memory or nothing important. His contacts with Ambassador Kislyak were all above the board and he did absolutely nothing wrong with his contacts with them.
Flynn had his life destroyed by the FBI. He was left in limbo for years with no idea when or even if he would have to serve his sentence. And he also lost much of his money due to the massive legal fees he was racking up. He was right to fight in the end but he paid a heavy price for doing so.
I think Flynn's biggest mistake is the fact that he trusted the FBI. He should have never of done so. The one thing that I learned in my criminal justice classes back in college is that you never talk to a cop without a lawyer present. And that goes double for the FBI. Unlike a normal cop it's a crime to lie to the FBI and people make all kinds of mistakes, white lies and other untrue things in every single conversation. Talking to them at all was a mistake but it was almost a fatal one for him to do so without his attorney.
I think it was unforgivable to try and target General Flynn this way and it did massive damage to President Trump's first term. Flynn was an America-First foreign policy expert and unlike H.R. McMaster and John Bolton he actually agreed with President Trump's foreign policy. Once Flynn was gone Trump was undermined by McMaster and Bolton for every foreign policy move he made. They were much worse then Flynn was and though President Trump was still successful in foreign policy the other men gave him bad advice and undermined him.
I think that this was the point. The FBI was trying to undermine President Trump's foreign policy goals and took away one of the few advisors that ended up being worth a damn. Trump didn't have too much of a choice when it came to firing Flynn and that is entirely due to the FBI. They wanted Flynn gone because an America first hurts their bottom line.
Flynn is now free and I think he might have a role in President Trump's 2nd term (either in 2020 or 2024). Everyone knows that Flynn was screwed and if he is recommended for a high level post he will likely be confirmed. He is a competent and honorable man and he deserves a 2nd chance.
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