DOJ Settles With Flynn Over Wrongful Prosecution Lawsuit Tied to Russia Collusion Hoax

The U.S. government is reportedly paying General Michael Flynn $1.2 million as part of a settlement in a wrongful-prosecution lawsuit linked to the Russia Collusion hoax that plagued President Donald Trump for much of his first term.

Flynn, who briefly served as Trump’s national security advisor in 2017, filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) in March 2023. He accused the DOJ of wrongful prosecution and abuse of process in his 2017 criminal case stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Mueller eventually concluded that members of Trump election team did not collude with the Russian government to win the 2016 election.

Flynn’s Comments

Flynn issued a statement on Wednesday commenting on the settlement. “Nothing can fully compensate for the hell that my family and I have endured over these many years — the relentless attacks, the destruction of reputations, the financial ruin, and the profound personal toll inflicted upon us all,” he said. “No amount of money or formal resolution can erase the pain caused by a prosecution that should never have been brought.” Flynn added:

This ordeal stemmed from partisan government officials in a coordinated effort to pursue an innocent man as part of a broader campaign to undermine President Donald J. Trump and his administration. It was a relentless, partisan pursuit that weaponized federal law enforcement in an audacious and unjust manner.… There should never again be such a brazen attempt to weaponize federal law enforcement against political opponents or innocent citizens. It is essential that we remain guardians of the rule of law. A huge part of that guardianship is accountability, holding those who abuse power to answer for their actions.

Flynn went on to praise the DOJ, saying, “This settlement goes far in demonstrating that the current Department of Justice, under the leadership of President Trump, Attorney General Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Blanche, and other dedicated departmental leaders, is committed to bringing accountability for the bad acts of those partisan actors.”

A DOJ spokesperson said the settlement redressed a “historic injustice.” Moreover:

This Department of Justice will continue to pursue accountability at all levels for this wrongdoing. Such weaponization of the federal government must never be allowed to happen again.

Partisan Punishment

According to Flynn’s lawsuit, the lawfare he incurred was punishment by the Deep State and the Barack Obama White House for being chosen as Trump’s national security advisor. The Deep State did not want Flynn advising Trump. Moreover, “Flynn roiled FBI leadership” going back to 2014, when he supported a “decorated counterterrorism agent who specifically named and accused Andrew McCabe and other top FBI officials of sexual discrimination.” McCabe rose to deputy director of the FBI in 2016. He also “became a central player in the FBI’s Russia election tampering investigation” and influenced the criminal inquiry against Flynn.

Publicly, Flynn’s troubles started after he held calls and texted with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December of 2016, part of a series of routine communications with dozens of national security advisor counterparts from other countries. The texts and calls, however, were framed in a nefarious light by Washington Post writer David Ignatius. “The WaPo/Ignatius piece set off a media frenzy that transformed the completely innocent Flynn-Kislyak conversation into a pearl-clutching political extravaganza of disinformation,” we reported back in June 2024.

A few days later, Obama met in the White House with a group of Deep State actors. The supplemental pages to Flynn’s lawsuit says this is what happened:

On or about January 5, 2017, FBI Director James Comey (Comey) and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe (McCabe) met in the Oval Office with President Obama, Vice President Biden, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, CIA Director Brennan, ODNI Director James Clapper, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice. During this meeting, the participants agreed to try to damage incoming President Trump and his new Administration, including by trying to prosecute Flynn, President-elect Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor, to cause him to resign as NSA, to cripple President Trump’s ability to implement national security and foreign affairs policy changes, and potentially to get Flynn to turn on President Trump. They also agreed to withhold this agreement from the “transition team.”

The Charge

By November of 2017, the Special Counsel’s Office (SCO), a DOJ department, charged Flynn with one count of making false statements. “SCO falsely asserted that Flynn had intentionally omitted and denied speaking with Russian Ambassador Kislyak (Kislyak) during an interview with two FBI agents,” per the lawsuit.

The charge triggered travel restrictions that proved profoundly burdensome. From the lawsuit:

As a result of the unlawful prosecution and false arrest and detention, Flynn was unable to travel freely inside and outside of the United States. Not only was his reputation tarnished by the unlawful prosecution, but he was unable to personally carry on his international consulting business. For the above reasons, the restrictions severely curtailing Flynn’s movements were unlawful just as the prosecution that created Flynn’s movement restrictions was unlawful.

Guilty Plea

Flynn pleaded to guilty to lying to FBI agents shortly after the charge was filed. He issued a statement explaining his decision as a sacrifice for his family. Also, Robert Mueller had cornered Flynn into a plea deal with false allegations that included a threat against his son. Per previous TNA reporting:

Following his retirement, Flynn had formed a consultancy company with his son, Michael Flynn, Jr. One of their clients was a private Turkish company. The Mueller team falsely alleged that the Flynns were in violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) by failing to register as foreign agents. They threatened to prosecute his son, who was the father of a new baby, if General Flynn did not cop to a plea of lying to the FBI. 

If General Flynn had had proper legal counsel, he would not have caved to such extortion. However, he was relying on the prominent legal firm Covington & Burling, whose lawyers persuaded him the plea deal was his only option if he wanted to spare his son from a prison term. But Covington had a fatal conflict of interest in the matter, since they had prepared the Flynns’ company affairs and would be financially impacted if it became public that they had violated FARA.

Pardon and Lawsuit

Flynn eventually ousted his lawyers and hired a new team, one that included Sidney Powell. And in January 2020, he moved to withdraw his guilty plea.

By May of 2020, the DOJ had filed to dismiss the criminal case against Flynn. “However, activist Judge Emmet Sullivan, who was presiding over the case, did not want to let it go,” we reported. “He had intemperately denounced Flynn in court so vociferously that it had shocked even the prosecution.”

Flynn, who had previously rejected a pardon from Trump, eventually accepted one in November 2020. But in 2023, he sued the DOJ as part of an effort to clear his name. This week, he got the conclusion he’s been seeking.