Trump administration to pay Michael Flynn in settlement over earlier prosecution

Michael Flynn and the Justice Department have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, over his claims of political targeting in a 2017 case in which he initially pleaded guilty.

The parties notified a federal judge Wednesday in Florida that they had reached a settlement. The amount was not disclosed. Flynn had sued for $50 million in 2023, alleging malicious prosecution and abuse of process.

A judge previously tossed Flynn’s lawsuit in 2024. His attorneys filed an amended complaint last June, claiming the U.S. “improperly and politically targeted General Flynn because of his lawful association with the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump.”

Flynn celebrated the settlement, praising Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department and calling the original case against him “Russian Hoax FBI lawfare,” arguing it was “a prosecution that should never have been brought.”

He added that the 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.”

Flynn, one of Trump’s top campaign surrogates in 2016, was appointed national security adviser during Trump’s first term. His tenure was short-lived, however. He resigned after less than a month after it was revealed he had lied to Vice President-elect Mike Pence and administration officials about conversations he had had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition.

Flynn then lied about the conversations to the FBI, a federal crime. He pleaded guilty in late 2017 to a charge brought by then-special counsel Robert Mueller.

Flynn, who initially cooperated with Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, later backtracked. After prosecutors signaled that they would seek prison time, he withdrew his guilty plea.

The Justice Department in 2020 moved to drop charges against Flynn, and later that year, Trump pardoned him.

Trump’s defenders used Flynn’s case at the time to condemn Mueller’s tactics as special counsel and portray Flynn as being railroaded by the FBI and the so-called deep state.

Trump has repeatedly referred to Mueller’s investigation as the “Russia hoax.”

A Justice Department spokesperson on Wednesday said in a statement that the people involved in starting the Russia investigation “abused their power to mislead the American people and tarnish the reputations of President Trump and his supporters. Today’s settlement, secured by this Justice Department, is an important step in redressing that historic injustice.”