DOJ settles lawsuit from Trump ally Michael Flynn for about $1.2M

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The U.S. Department of Justice has settled a lawsuit brought by former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn for about $1.2 million, court papers filed this week show, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose nonpublic information. The filing does not reveal the settlement figure.

The settlement resolves Flynn’s 2023 lawsuit in which he sought at least $50 million and argued that the criminal case against him amounted to malicious prosecution. The Justice Department had previously urged a judge during the Biden administration to dismiss Flynn’s complaint, according to AP reporting, a stance that the settlement represents as a change in position.

Flynn’s case traces back to the Russia investigation that included special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. Mueller’s team concluded that Russia interfered in the election on Trump’s behalf, and that the Trump campaign welcomed the help, but it found insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy.

Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about conversations with Sergey Kislyak, a top Russian diplomat. He later received a presidential pardon in November 2020, which ended the court case.

In the 2023 lawsuit, Flynn maintained his innocence and said he was targeted by what he described as “virulently anti-Trump leadership” within the FBI’s Russia investigation. He contended that prosecutors pursued him despite knowing there was no evidence of a crime and that they coerced his guilty plea, according to the lawsuit description cited by AP.

The Associated Press reported that the Justice Department cast the settlement as an “important step in redressing” what it said was a “historic injustice” of the Russia investigation. In a statement, a Justice Department spokesperson said, “This Department of Justice will continue to pursue accountability at all levels for this wrongdoing. Such weaponization of the federal government must never be allowed to happen again,” according to the AP account.

In a separate statement, Flynn said, “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’s legal saga also included claims about what prosecutors and investigators believed at the time. AP reported that the conversation at issue alarmed the FBI because investigators were checking whether the Trump campaign and Russia had coordinated to influence the election, and because White House officials were stating publicly that Flynn and Kislyak had not discussed sanctions—something the FBI knew was untrue.

Flynn was ousted from his position as national security adviser in February 2017 after news broke that Obama administration officials had warned the White House that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Kislyak and was vulnerable to blackmail. AP said he later sought to withdraw his guilty plea, alleging federal prosecutors acted in “bad faith” and broke their end of the bargain when they sought prison time.

The settlement filed this week marks another turn in the long-running litigation that followed Flynn’s guilty plea and pardon, with the Justice Department now resolving the civil dispute even as it has also opened investigations into former officials involved in the Russia inquiry, AP reported.