House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned President Donald Trump’s pardon of Michael Flynn on Wednesday as “an act of grave corruption and a brazen abuse of power.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) talks to reporters during her weekly news conference in the House Visitors Center. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Wednesday, ending Flynn’s legal limbo after he pleaded guilty as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,” Trump tweeted. (RELATED: Michael Flynn: ‘I Regret Pleading Guilty’)
Pelosi said in a statement that the decision was wholly unjustified.
“President Trump’s pardoning of Michael Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his dealings with a foreign adversary, is an act of grave corruption and a brazen abuse of power,” she said. “Trump is again using the pardon power to protect those who lie to cover up his wrongdoing, just as he did when he commuted the sentence of campaign advisor Roger Stone, who was convicted on seven felony counts.”
Pelosi maintained that Flynn’s “actions constituted a serious and dangerous breach of our national security” and that “he must be held accountable.” She suggested that the president continues to put his own interests above that of the country and to “politicize justice.”
“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 continued. “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.”
The Flynn family expressed their gratitude to the president in their own statement: “Today, the Flynn family is grateful to President Donald J. Trump for answering our prayers and the prayers of a nation by removing the heavy burden of injustice off the shoulders of our brother, Michael, with a full pardon of innocence.”
President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse on June 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. Criminal sentencing for Flynn will be on hold for at least another two months. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
“We thank President Trump for recognizing our brother’s sacrifice in this battle for truth, our Constitution, our republic, and all that America stands for around the world — a true beacon of liberty.” (RELATED: FBI Planned To Close Michael Flynn Investigation, And Then Peter Strzok Intervened)
After Flynn retracted his guilty plea, Attorney General William Barr ordered a review of the retired U.S. Army general’s case.
The Justice Department subsequently filed a motion May 7 to drop all charges, noting that the FBI had withheld evidence from Flynn’s lawyers.