Washington — The Justice Department has reached a settlement with former Trump national security official and right-wing activist Michael Flynn after he sued the department, alleging that he was wrongly prosecuted during the first Trump administration.
The retired three-star general sued the Justice Department in 2023 for $50 million in damages, alleging the government"improperly and politically" targeted him because of his association with President Trump's 2016 campaign and position in the White House. Flynn had been charged in November 2017 with making false statements to FBI investigators during an interview in January of that year.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly defended Flynn as an "innocent man" who was unfairly targeted by rogue FBI officials during their investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which the president has long derided as a "hoax" that was designed to undermine his presidency. Mr. Trump pardoned Flynn in 2020 after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. He admitted guilt in December 2017 —and agreed to cooperate with the late special counsel Robert Mueller, who handled the Russia probe — and then again in December 2018 to making false statements to federal investigators about his contacts with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. But Flynn asked to withdraw his guilty plea in January 2020 and accused the government of "bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement."
The Justice Department then moved to dismiss its case against Flynn in May 2020, arguing that his continued prosecution "would not serve the interests of justice." The move kicked off a fight over whether the case should be dropped, and it eventually ended after Flynn was granted clemency by Mr. Trump in the final weeks of his first term.
An early supporter of Mr. Trump's bid for the White House in 2016, Flynn would go on to serve less than a month as his national security adviser before he was fired in February 2017 for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about contacts with Kislyak, who was then Russian ambassador to the U.S.
Flynn was also central to Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the presidential election results in 2020, participating in at least one Oval Office meeting in 2020 where he and others encouraged Mr. Trump to take dramatic steps to stay in power, sources told CBS News at the time.
There is no financial amount in the brief court notice of settlement, though it indicates both sides will pay for their own legal fees and that there will be a payment of "settlement funds."
Flynn celebrated the settlement agreement in a statement Wednesday, arguing he was the victim of a "brazen attempt to weaponize federal law enforcement."
"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. No amount of money or formal resolution can erase the pain caused by a prosecution that should never have been brought," Flynn wrote.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement.
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