Trump reportedly plans to pardon Michael Flynn
First it was Corn, now it's Michael Flynn.
President Trump is telling people close to him that he plans on pardoning his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, two people familiar with the matter told Axios. In December 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Flynn's sentencing was delayed for two years because he was cooperating with former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, and earlier this year, Flynn's new legal team accused prosecutors of misconduct and asked to have his guilty plea withdrawn.
In September, Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell — the same attorney who has an on-again, off-again relationship with Trump's election legal team — said during a hearing that she asked Trump not to issue a pardon for Flynn. It's unclear if Powell and Trump have had recent discussions about pardoning Flynn, Axios says.
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Two people with knowledge of the matter told Axios it's not just Flynn who is on Trump's list — he plans on making several pardons between now and when he leaves office in January.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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