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Michael Flynn’s brother would really like President Trump to pardon Michael Flynn.
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Joseph Flynn said that his brother, Trump’s disgraced former national security adviser, had “taken the biggest fall” and deserved to be pardoned.
“About time you pardoned General Flynn who has taken the biggest fall for all of you given the illegitimacy of this confessed crime in the wake of all this corruption,” Flynn wrote.
Michael Flynn pleaded guilty on December 1 to lying to FBI agents, and failing to disclose conversations he had with former Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, during the 2016 presidential campaign. He was the first senior White House official to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
On December 26, President Trump complained, yet again, about the legitimacy of the Mueller campaign on Twitter, which prompted Joseph Flynn to respond. He deleted his original tweet, and rephrased his request later that day:
Mr. President, I personally believe that a pardon is due to General Flynn, given the apparent and obvious illegitimacy of the manner in which the so called "crimes"he plead guilty to were extracted from him. I ask for quick action on this. Thank you and keep up the good work!
— Joseph J. Flynn (@JosephJFlynn1) December 27, 2017
It’s not clear if the president is listening: Trump told reporters on December 15 that he’s not willing to talk about pardons for Flynn at this time. “We’ll see what happens,” he said.
This is the latest twist in the endless saga of Michael Flynn
Flynn’s guilty plea related to an interview with FBI agents on January 24, 2017, just days after President Donald Trump took office and Flynn began serving as his top national security aide.
According to the court documents, Flynn made false statements to the FBI about conversations with the Russian ambassador regarding whether Trump would be willing to lift sanctions that the outgoing Obama administration had imposed on Moscow.
In addition to Flynn, special counsel Robert Mueller has charged three other members of the Trump campaign, including former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. George Papadopoulos, a campaign foreign policy adviser, also pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russians during the campaign.