The Department of Justice has settled a lawsuit from Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, for about $1.2 million. The matter surrounds Flynn’s contact with a Russian diplomat and the Russia collusion investigation.
“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,” Flynn said. “No amount of money or formal resolution can erase the pain caused by a prosecution that should never have been brought.”
He added that the investigation was a “relentless, partisan pursuit that weaponized federal law enforcement in an audacious and unjust manner.”
“It is not this Department of Justice that created this crisis of politicized justice, but they are doing right by truly pursuing justice now—ensuring that the facts prevail and that such abuses are not repeated,” he said. “This resolution, while imperfect, brings to an end this chapter of injustice. This small measure of accountability should help the nation heal regarding the abuses of the past. It allows my family and me to move forward.”
Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to providing false statements to the FBI about his communication with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He later argued he had been misled by federal agents.
The settlement resolves a $50 million lawsuit Flynn filed against the FBI and DOJ over “malicious prosecution” in 2023.
The DOJ told the Associated Press that the settlement is an “important step in redressing” the “historic injustice.”
President Trump pardoned Flynn in 2020. “General Flynn should not require a pardon. He is an innocent man. Even the FBI agents who interviewed General Flynn did not think he was lying. Multiple investigations have produced evidence establishing that General Flynn was the victim of partisan government officials engaged in a coordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016,” a statement from then-White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany read. “These individuals sought to prevent Donald Trump from being elected to the Presidency, to block him from assuming that office upon his election, to remove him from office after his inauguration, and to undermine his Administration at every turn.”
