The move marks a stunning renunciation of one of the most high-profile convictions secured as part of the federal investigation into President Trump’s ties to Russia.

In a stunning reversal, the Justice Department moved to drop its prosecution of Michael Flynn, President Trump's first national security advisor and the only White House official charged in the Russia investigation.

Del Wilber is joining the Los Angeles Times' Washington Bureau, where he will cover the Justice Department. 

The move marks a stunning renunciation of one of the most high-profile convictions secured as part of the federal investigation into President Trump’s ties to Russia.

'Whenever there's a trillion dollars out on the street that quickly, the fraudsters are going to come out of the woodwork'

The following article, Breaking: Justice Department Dropping Michael Flynn Criminal Case, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com.

Michael Flynn has finally been exonerated. The Associated Press is reporting exclusively that the Justice Department said it is dropping the criminal case against President Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. In court documents being filed Thursday, the Justice Department said it is dropping the case “after a considered review of all the facts […]

Continue reading: Breaking: Justice Department Dropping Michael Flynn Criminal Case ...

It may not be a pardon. But the Justice Department has dropped charges against Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.Retired Army Lt. Gen. Flynn, an important figure in the war on terror who gave Trump’s 2016 run military validation, will avoid prison time after the Justice Department provided a deliverance on Thursday that Flynn had long sought. It is also the second redemption that Trump has provided the general, who served as his first national security adviser for less than a month. “The Government has determined, pursuant to the Principles of Federal Prosecution and based on an extensive review and careful consideration of the circumstances, that continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice,” wrote Timothy Shea, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a former senior aide to Attorney General William Barr. Shortly before the filing, lead prosecutor Brandon Von Grack abruptly withdrew from the case.The Justice Department filing, in essence, portrays Flynn as the victim of an FBI frame-up job, and his lies to the FBI as legally marginal. Shea wrote that Flynn’s lies needed to have been “not simply false, but ‘materially’ false with respect to a matter under investigation.” Later in the filing, Shea referred to those lies as “gaps in [Flynn’s] memory,” rather than deliberate falsehoods Flynn conceded. “Even if he told the truth, Mr. Flynn’s statements could not have conceivably ‘influenced’ an investigation that had neither a legitimate counterintelligence nor criminal purpose,” Shea wrote.It was an astonishing turnaround since 2018, when a federal judge said to Flynn in a sentencing hearing, “arguably, you sold your country out.” That judge, Emmet Sullivan, could still decide to reject Shea’s filing and continue with Flynn’ sentencing. Michael Bromwich, a former federal prosecutor and Justice Department inspector general, tweeted that the extraordinary move represented “a pardon by another name” and called it a “black day in DOJ history.”Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the decision to drop charges was “outrageous” and revealed “a politicized and thoroughly corrupt Department of Justice.” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) added, “If Barr’s Justice Department will drop charges against someone who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and who the White House publicly fired for lying to the vice president, there’s nothing it won’t do, no investigation it won’t taint.”Neither Flynn nor his attorney, Sidney Powell, responded immediately to requests for comment.Speaking to reports on Thursday afternoon, Trump said he had no prior knowledge of the Justice Department’s decision. “He was an innocent man,” Trump said, of Flynn. “Now in my book he’s an even greater warrior.”The dropped charges follow a years-long groundswell from Trump’s base, and particularly Fox News, to clear Flynn. His advocates claim that Flynn was set up by the same disreputable FBI figures who they believe persecuted Trump over phantom collusion with Russia.Flynn’s guilty plea, in December, 2017, has been no obstacle to the narrative, particularly since Flynn sought afterwards, unsuccessfully, to withdraw his plea. His sentencing, initially set for February, had also been delayed.Last month, agitation for a Flynn pardon intensified after documents emerged from two of Trump’s most hated ex-FBI figures, counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page, discussing Flynn’s fateful January 2017 interview with the FBI. Page asked when and how to “slip it in” to Flynn that lying to an FBI agent is a crime, something that Flynn’s advocates believed showed the general being railroaded from the start. But veteran FBI agents and prosecutors have pointed out that the FBI is not legally obligated to inform an interview subject that lying to them is illegal. “Michael Flynn was very familiar with the FBI,” said Stephanie Douglas, a former executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch. “He would certainly have been aware of his obligation to provide candid and truthful information. His claim he was tricked and manipulated doesn’t sound valid to me.” Shea, in his Thursday court filing, suggested the FBI officials were “fishing for falsehoods merely to manufacture jurisdiction over any statement.” In Shea’s view, Flynn’s lies were less germane to the prosecution than the FBI “lack[ing] sufficient basis to sustain its initial counterintelligence investigation,” and its pre-interview position that it ought to close the investigation before speaking with the then national security adviser.Former FBI deputy head Andrew McCabe said on Thursday that the suggestion there was no reason to interview Flynn was “patently false, and ignores the considerable national security risk his contacts raised.” He said Flynn’s lies added to the FBI’s concerns about his relationship with Russia. “Today’s move... is pure politics designed to please the president,” he added.U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, who was appointed by Barr to review Flynn’s and other high-profile cases, said on Thursday that he concluded “the proper and just course” was to dismiss the case. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed,” he said.The FBI Didn’t Frame Michael Flynn. That’s Just Trump’s Excuse for a Prospective Pardon.While serving as national security adviser, Flynn misled FBI interviewers about conversations he had with the then-Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak. In one of those late 2016 conversations, according to court filings, Flynn asked the Russians to avoid escalatory actions in response to sanctions and diplomatic expulsions then President Barack Obama enacted as reprisal for Russian electoral interference. Shea, in his filing, called Flynn’s Kislyak calls “entirely appropriate on their face.”The national security adviser’s lies prompted the holdover attorney general, Sally Yates, to warn the White House that Flynn had given the Russians leverage to blackmail him. But it would take weeks before Trump fired Flynn over “an eroding level of trust” concerning misleading Vice President Mike Pence on the Kislyak contacts. By May, Trump was said to have regretted dismissing the general.  Flynn in 2017 agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The general avoided charges for taking $530,000 in unregistered money from interests connected to the Turkish government—something he only declared with the Justice Department after his downfall as national security adviser. During a sentencing hearing in 2018, a federal judge castigated Flynn for disgracing the uniform Flynn wore for three decades. “Arguably, you sold your country out,” Judge Emmet Sullivan said. Two years earlier, on stage at the Republican national convention, Flynn had led a chant of “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton. Protesters outside Flynn’s courtroom did not let the general forget it. Trump’s enduring bond with Flynn is a testament to the importance of the role the general played in 2016.A host of national security officials, many aligned with the Republican Party, rejected Trump in 2016 as unfit to be president owing to his nativism, his penchant for brutality and his benign view of dictators like Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Flynn was the exception. And the general was an exceptional figure. As the intelligence chief for the Joint Special Operations Command during the mid-2000s, Flynn is one of a select few people who can be said to have personally prosecuted the most sensitive missions of the war on terror. Michael Flynn Putting Mueller Deal at Risk in ‘Dangerous’ New TrialIt was a pivotal credential in another way. Flynn emerged from the war on terror endorsing Trump’s view that the security apparatus, abetted by hidebound liberals and cowardly conservatives, had neutered the war on terror by refusing to see it was a civilizational conflict with Islam. “Islam is a political ideology” that “hides behind this notion of being a religion,” Flynn told the Islamophobic group ACT for America shortly after the 2016 convention. His hostility to Islam informed his sanguine view of Russia, which both Flynn and Trump saw as naturally aligned with the U.S. against what they called “Radical Islamic Terror.”It also meant that Trump and Flynn shared a common bureaucratic enemy. James Clapper, then the director of national intelligence, was a lead architect of an intelligence assessment finding Russia intervened in the election on Trump’s behalf. In 2014, Clapper fired Flynn as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. It was deeply embittering. Just four years earlier, Flynn had been hailed as an innovator after claiming U.S. military intelligence had misunderstood the Afghanistan war. While Flynn portrayed himself as a martyr, victimized by the ‘Deep State’ for daring to warn about radical Islam, Clapper and other intelligence leaders had fallen out with Flynn over what they considered an incompetent management style and an iffy relationship with the truth. Reportedly, Flynn believed Iran was involved in the 2012 assault on a CIA compound in Benghazi that killed four Americans, and claimed incorrectly that Iran was responsible for more American deaths than al-Qaeda. Aides referred to such untruths as “Flynn facts.” Flynn facts did not disturb Trump. They validated his instincts on national security. Trump rewarded Flynn by making him national security adviser, one of the most important positions in the U.S. security apparatus. It was the first time Trump redeemed Flynn. Thursday’s dropped charges represent the second. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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In an abrupt about-face, the Justice Department on May 7 said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for the president and his supporters in attacking the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation.

In an abrupt about-face, the Justice Department on Thursday said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael ...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein on politico.com on May 7, 2020.The US Justice Department has abandoned its prosecution of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, throwing in the towel on one of the most prominent cases brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his dealings with the Russian ambassador to the US.But…

The Justice Department on Thursday said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for the president and his supporters in attacking the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation.

Just after the prosecutor assigned to the case resigned on Thursday, the Department of Justice announced that it dropped the charges against Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor who’d already pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. 

President Trump forecast this before it happened. Last week, he insisted that Flynn had been exonerated.  Apparently referring to his pardon power, Trump suggested that if the court did not do something he would use “a different kind of power.”

And now it’s happened. While the president has the broad power to pardon, he should not control individual prosecutorial decisions, especially those concerning a political ally. It is extremely unusual for the government to dismiss charges after a guilty plea. This is a sign that the historic independence of the Justice Department has been compromised. 

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fate and politics have rewarded decisions made by the former national security adviser and his legal team, ultimately delivering him from legal jeopardy after a years-long odyssey.

In an abrupt about-face, the Justice Department on Thursday said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry...

The Department today announced a settlement resolving allegations that the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (Metropolitan Government) violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) by discriminating against Teen Challenge, a Christian substance abuse treatment program.

The Department today filed suit against Ronald D. Peterson and Glen E. Johnson, the owner and rental manager, respectively, of 11 single family homes in Ypsilanti, Mich., alleging a pattern or practice of sexual harassment of female tenants.

The Department today filed a lawsuit on behalf of Suzanne L. Halverson, an Army National Guard member, against Grand Forks County, N.D., alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), which prohibits employers from discriminating against service-members because of their past, current or future military service obligations.

The Department today announced that it has reached a consent decree with the Policía de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Police Department or PRPD) that will, if approved by the federal district court, resolve a complaint the Department filed in March 2008 alleging that the PRPD engaged in unlawful employment discrimination based on gender and retaliation, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin and religion, and also prohibits retaliation against persons for filing charges of discrimination.

The Department announced today the settlement of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Anthony D. Jackson, an Air Force National Guard member, against Union County College (UCC) under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The Department today announced a settlement that, if approved by the court, will resolve allegations in a lawsuit the Department filed on behalf of Randall A. Slocum, an Air Force Reservist, against the city of Iola, Kan. The complaint, filed in December 2008, alleged that the city of Iola violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by taking into consideration Slocum’s military service obligations when it disciplined him and denied him a wage increase.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) that, if approved by the court, will resolve the complaint of pattern or practice religious discrimination filed by the United States against WMATA under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Department has reached a settlement that, if approved by the court, will resolve a lawsuit the Department filed on behalf of Air Force Reservist Frank Bonnin against SmallTownPapers Inc., (SmallTownPapers). The complaint, filed in August 2008 in U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleged that SmallTownPapers violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) when it terminated Bonnin from his position as director of publisher relations due to his military obligation as an Air Force Reservist to attend active duty training.

The United States has sued a Dallas tax preparer, Tina Preston, her tax-preparation firm – Preston Tax Services, Inc. – and several other individuals associated with the firm, seeking to bar them all permanently from the tax-preparation business. The civil injunction suit was filed in Dallas with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

The United States has sued a Sacramento, Calif., tax preparer, Chris Elmer, his firm – Associated Tax Planners Inc. (ATP) – and several members of his family associated with ATP, seeking to bar them all permanently from the tax-preparation business. The civil injunction suit was filed in Sacramento with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

RE/MAX East-West, a real estate firm in Elmhurst, Ill., and one of its former real estate agents, John DeJohn, have agreed to pay $120,000 to settle allegations that they illegally steered prospective homebuyers toward and away from certain neighborhoods based on race and national origin. The consent decree was signed on Feb. 17, 2009, by U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo.

The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education of the City of Chicago (Board), alleging pregnancy discrimination in employment against former elementary school teacher Traci Meziere.

The Department announced today the resolution of the lawsuit filed by the United States against the state of Vermont to enforce the reporting requirements of the Uniformed Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). UOCAVA is designed to ensure that members of the uniformed services and overseas citizens may effectively participate in federal elections.

The Department today filed a lawsuit against the Wayne County Housing Authority (WCHA), in Fairfield, Ill., as well as Jill Masterson and Danna Sutton, WCHA’s executive director and assistant director, respectively, alleging that they violated the Fair Housing Act when they tried to discourage a white couple from renting their property in Fairfield to an African-American woman.

The Department announced today that it has reached a settlement that, if approved by the court, will resolve a lawsuit filed by the Department against the Administrative Office of the Courts of the State of North Carolina and the Honorable Jerry Braswell, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for North Carolina Judicial District 8-B, in his official capacity.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with the city of Dayton that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s complaint that Dayton has been engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African-Americans in its hiring of entry-level police officers and firefighters, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

The Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Kevin Stenger, an Indiana National Guard member, against Wagner Industrial Electric Inc. (Wagner), alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA). USERRA was enacted in 1994 to protect service members from being disadvantaged in their civilian careers due to serving in the uniformed services.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with Ecolab Inc. (Ecolab) that will resolve the Department’s complaint, which was filed today, that Ecolab failed to reemploy Michigan veteran Stephen Alasin in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, as amended (USERRA). The consent decree was approved by the court today as well.

The Department filed a lawsuit today against JPI Construction L.P. (JPI) and six JPI-affiliated companies in U.S. District Court in Dallas for failing to provide accessible features required by the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act at multi-family housing developments in Texas and other states.

The Department announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with Stimson Lumber Company (Stimson) that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s complaint, also filed today, that Oregon-based Stimson failed to reemploy Oregon reservist David Eckhardt in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The Department filed a lawsuit against Harrison County Sheriff George Michael Deatrick, in his official capacity, alleging that he discriminated against current employee Deana Decker and former employee Melissa Graham, in the form of sexual harassment that resulted in a hostile work environment, and retaliation, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Department today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois against Henry County, Ill., alleging that former employee Michelle Baze was sexually harassed by her supervisor, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.

The Department today filed a lawsuit on behalf of David D. Sweatt, a Michigan Army National Guard member currently serving in Iraq, against Americraft Carton Inc. (Americraft), alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The Department today filed a lawsuit against Bobby L. Hurt, the former property manager for numerous mobile homes in and around West Memphis, Ark., alleging a pattern or practice of sexual harassment. The lawsuit also names Bobby Hurt=s wife, Sue Hurt, as a defendant.

The United States has sued a Fort Richey, Fla., tax preparer, Frank Lighty, and his tax-preparation firm – Lighty & seeking to bar them permanently from the tax preparation business. The civil injunction suit was filed in Tampa with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

The Department today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis on behalf of Mathew B. Jeffries, an Indiana National Guard member, against the Indianapolis law firm of Mike Norris & Associates, alleging that the law firm refused to promptly reemploy Jeffries in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The United States has asked a federal court in Savannah, Ga., to permanently bar Ophelia Kelley of Vidalia, Ga., from preparing federal income tax returns for others. According to the government complaint, Kelley operates two return preparation firms in Vidalia – Kelley Tax Service, and City and Country Girl Tax Service.

The Department today announced a settlement resolving allegations that the town of St. John, Ind., violated the Fair Housing Act when it denied a petition for a zoning variance based on the disability of a prospective resident.

The Department has entered into a consent decree today with Muskegon County, Mich., that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s lawsuit against the county alleging that a former employee was subjected to sexual harassment that caused a hostile work environment, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Department today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on behalf of Frantz Julien, a New York Army National Guard member, against the Symphony Diagnostic Services Inc., doing business as MobilexUSA (Mobilex), alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

The Department has entered into a consent decree with the City of Portsmouth, Va., that, if approved by the court, will resolve the Department’s complaint that the City of Portsmouth engaged in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African Americans in its hiring of entry-level firefighters, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

The Department is making grant funding available for public education programs concerning immigration-related employment discrimination. The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC), a section of the Department’s Civil Rights Division, announced the availability of funds for public education programs regarding employees’ rights and employers’ obligations under the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The Department has reached agreement with New York officials to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have the opportunity to vote in the state’s March 31, 2009, special election in the 20th Congressional District.

The Department filed a lawsuit today to challenge the at-large method of electing the Lake Park, Fla. Town Commission on the ground that it dilutes the voting strength of black citizens in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Miami, alleges that as a result of racially polarized voting patterns in town elections, candidates preferred by black voters are usually defeated.

The United States has brought suit in federal court against Gayle Lemmon of Humboldt, Iowa. The lawsuit seeks to bar her and her firm from preparing federal tax returns for others. According to the government complaint in the case, Lemmon’s firm, Gayle’s Bookkeeping and Tax Service Inc., prepares federal income tax returns for customers that unlawfully understate tax liabilities by claiming improper deductions for the business use of the home and for non-deductible personal expenses.