Pence would 'be happy' to see 'patriot' Michael Flynn in White House again

(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Vice President Mike Pence seems ready for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to come back to the White House after the Justice Department moved last week to drop its criminal case against him, Axios reports.

Flynn was a major player in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into 2016 Russian election interference. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with former Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak, but the Justice Department on Thursday said the interview which contained Flynn's admission was "conducted without any legitimate investigative basis."

There isn't any official indication that Flynn will find his way back to the White House, although Axios reports that some insiders wouldn't be surprised to see him on the campaign trail this year. Pence, at least, apparently wouldn't object to that. He described Flynn as "an American patriot" and said the Justice Department's decision "laid bare" what was "clearly prosecutorial abuse." Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.