The Justice Department Thursday dropped its criminal case against President Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the Justice Department said it was dismissing the case “with prejudice.”
“[B]ased on an extensive review and careful consideration of the circumstances, that continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice,” the department wrote.
Mr. Trump immediately reacted to the news.
“He was an innocent man,” Mr. Trump said. “Now in my book, he’s an even greater warrior.”
Mr. Trump criticized the Obama administration, saying, “They’re human scum. It’s treason.”
Jeffrey Jensen, the U.S. attorney in St. Louis, was tasked by Attorney General William P. Barr with reviewing the government’s case against Flynn. He said ending the case was the right call.
“Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Mr. Jensen said in a statement. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.
President Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani immediately praised the Justice Department’s action.
“Finally justice has been done in the case of Gen. Flynn,” he wrote on Twitter.
The move comes shortly after Brandon Van Grack, a former member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, on Thursday withdrew from the case.
Mr. Van Grack did not provide a reason for his withdrawal, according to a one-sentence filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Flynn supporters and allies of President Trump last week questioned whether Mr. Van Grack complied with a court order to produce evidence that could vindicate the former national security adviser.
Bombshell evidence released last week by the Justice Department — including an FBI document revealing the government had not uncovered any wrongdoing by Flynn — has made Mr. Van Grack a target of conservatives.
In February 2018, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the Justice Department to turn over all evidence in its possession “that is favorable to the defendant and material either to the defendant’s guilt or punishment.”
Mr. Van Grack had maintained in court filings that the government had fulfilled its obligation to give Flynn’s legal team exculpatory evidence.
Flynn switched legal teams last summer and his new attorney, Sidney Powell, began questioning whether the Justice Department had complied with the order. She openly accused the government of misconduct by concealing exculpatory materials.
Mr. Van Grack denied the allegations in an October 2019 filing saying the government met its so-called “Brady” obligations to turn over information favorable to the defense.
The government “has complied and will continue to comply with its discovery and disclosure obligations, including those imposed pursuant to Brady and the Court’s Standing Order,” he wrote.
But bombshell revelations last week have cast doubt on Mr. Van Grack’s claim.
An explosive handwritten note surfaced suggesting that the FBI’s goal in interviewing Flynn was to get him to lie so he could be prosecuted or fired.
The notes also suggested that the FBI wanted Flynn to admit breaking the Logan Act — an obscure law from 1799 that bars private citizens from speaking with foreign governments — when he spoke to the former Russian Ambassador in late 2016.
A separate FBI document unsealed in the case revealed that the bureau was set to end its probe into alleged ties between Flynn and Russia to help the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 election.
FBI officials had decided to close the case acknowledging they couldn’t find any wrongdoing by Flynn. However, anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok pushed to keep the case open three weeks before Flynn’s infamous White House interview with FBI agents.
