U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned Michael Flynn, the national security adviser from the early days of his administration, putting an end to criminal proceedings Trump had called unfair while drawing sharp criticism from Democrats.“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Have a great life General Flynn!”House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, criticized the pardon saying said Flynn should be held accountable for what she called “a serious and dangerous breach of our national security.”FILE – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 2020.“Sadly, this pardon is further proof that Trump plans to use his final days in office to undermine the rule of law in the wake of his failed presidency,” Pelosi said in a statement. “In the new Congress, it is imperative that we pass House and Senate Democrats’ Protecting Our Democracy Act, which prevents any president from abusing the pardon power.”Flynn twice pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about conversations he had with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time, about sanctions that the Obama administration had placed on Russia for its interference in the 2016 election. The conversations took place between Trump’s 2016 election and when he took office in January 2017.Obama administration officials warned the Trump administration that Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail, and after being on the job for less than a month, Trump fired Flynn.FILE – House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 10, 2020.”This pardon is part of a pattern,” Nadler said in a statement. “We saw it before, in the Roger Stone case—where President Trump granted clemency to protect an individual who might have implicated the President in criminal misconduct. We may see it again before President Trump finally leaves office. These actions are an abuse of power and fundamentally undermine the rule of law.”Trump commuted the 40-month prison sentence of Stone, a longtime adviser who was convicted of seven crimes, including witness tampering and lying to federal authorities.Mueller’s investigation also led to the convictions of other Trump associates, including his one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort and personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
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