Michel Flynn: Lawbreaker Or Innocent?

Michael Flynn, a retired United States Army Lieutenant General, served as the National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump for 22 days in 2017. He resigned from his position after reports emerged that he had lied about the nature of his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States.

Flynn pleaded guilty to willfully and knowingly making false statements to the FBI about his communications with Kislyak. However, in 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) moved to dismiss the charges against him, stating that it was not persuaded that Flynn's statements were material even if untrue. The DOJ's decision was criticised by many, including former FBI Director James Comey, who said that the DOJ had lost its way.

Ultimately, Flynn was pardoned by Trump in November 2020, and the criminal case against him was dismissed.

Michael Flynn's resignation

On December 29, 2016, Flynn called Kislyak to urge Russia not to retaliate in response to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration following Russian interference in the 2016 election. Flynn also implied that the Trump administration would be more conciliatory towards Russia, and may even alleviate the sanctions.

Flynn then lied to Pence, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and Press Secretary Sean Spicer, telling them that he had not discussed sanctions with Kislyak. This was despite the fact that Flynn had, only a few weeks earlier, been explicitly instructed by the Obama administration not to send conflicting signals to foreign officials before Trump's inauguration.

On January 26, 2017, the Justice Department informed the White House that Flynn had misled them, and that Russia might try to blackmail him as a result. On February 9, The Washington Post reported that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Kislyak. The next day, Flynn's story began to change, as he told the White House that he couldn't remember if sanctions had come up in his conversation with Kislyak.

On February 13, 2017, Flynn resigned from his position as National Security Advisor. In his resignation letter, he apologised to Trump and Pence, writing that he had "inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador."

The FBI's decision to open an investigation

On August 16, 2016, the FBI opened a case on Flynn as part of its Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The purpose of the investigation was to find out if Flynn was knowingly or unknowingly "involved in activity on behalf of the Russian Federation which may constitute a federal crime or threat to the national security" of the United States.

There was nothing suspect or unreasonable about opening this counterintelligence investigation of Flynn. In fact, the DOJ Inspector General later concluded that the FBI's "predication" to open that investigation was more than sufficient to satisfy the modest threshold prescribed by DOJ and FBI policies.

The Justice Department's decision to drop the case

On May 7, 2020, the Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss the criminal case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The motion stated that the FBI's counterintelligence investigation of Flynn was "untethered" and "unjustified."

The decision to drop the charges against Flynn was made by Attorney General William Barr, who had assigned US Attorney Jeffrey Jensen to review Flynn's case. Jensen recommended dropping the charges, and Barr agreed. This was considered highly unusual, as Jensen reviewed materials from Flynn's attorneys that alleged he was framed by the FBI.

Flynn had pleaded guilty twice to charges of "willfully and knowingly" making false statements to the FBI about conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. However, Flynn's legal team later alleged that the FBI mishandled the case and asked to revoke Flynn's guilty plea, which the judge rejected.

The Justice Department concluded that Flynn's FBI interview was "conducted without any legitimate investigative basis" and that the questioning was "untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI's counterintelligence investigation."

The decision to drop the charges was met with criticism from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, who called it "outrageous" and stated that "Americans are right to be furious and worried about the continued erosion of our rule of law." Nadler also expressed his intention to hold a hearing with the Attorney General and to ask the Department of Justice to investigate Flynn's dismissal.

The Logan Act

The Act states that:

> Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

Only two people have ever been indicted on charges of violating the Act, one in 1802 and the other in 1852. Neither was convicted.

Flynn's guilty plea

Michael Flynn's guilty plea was a result of his involvement in the Trump-Russia scandal, which led to his resignation as the National Security Advisor in 2017.

Flynn was accused of lying to the FBI about his communications with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, regarding sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in response to Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Flynn initially denied discussing sanctions with Kislyak, but later admitted to doing so and pleaded guilty to "willfully and knowingly" making false statements to the FBI.

The case against Flynn was eventually dismissed by the Justice Department, with Attorney General William Barr claiming that the FBI had no valid reason to interview Flynn and that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Flynn's statements were material or made with the intention to deceive.

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