The Department of Justice said on Thursday that it is dropping the criminal case against former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
The stunning reversal came as the defense continued to bolster their case against Flynns former counsel and as the court received a stream of apparently exculpatory documents from an outside U.S. attorney assigned to review the case.
The Associated Press was first to report the development.
In the hours leading up to the withdrawal of the case, the government attorney assigned to the case, Brandon van Grack, formally withdrew from the case.
The charges against Flynn were the opening salvo in the barrage of prosecutions by special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated, but did not find sufficient evidence of, allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in late 2017 but withdrew his plea last year, alleging that his prosecution was a politically motivated hit job and that his former counsel had conflicts of interest. Documents received by the court prior to the withdrawal of the case say that the FBI sought to interview him in order to “get him to lie” and get him fired.
In court documents being filed Thursday, the Justice Department said it is dropping the case “after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information.”
The Justice Department said it had concluded that Flynns interview by the FBI was “untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBIs counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and that the interview on Jan. 24, 2017 was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”
The U.S. attorney reviewing the Flynn case, Jeff Jensen, recommended the move to Attorney General William Barr last week and formalized the recommendation in a document this week.
“Through the course of my review of General Flynns case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jensen said in a statement. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.”
Barr appointed Jensen earlier this year to lRead More From Source
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