Washington — The Justice Department has moved to dismiss its criminal case against Michael Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators.
In a motion filed in U.S. district court in Washington on Thursday, federal prosecutors asked a judge to toss out with prejudice the single count of making false statements to the FBI, saying that “continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice.”
The Justice Department said the government “concluded that the interview of Mr. Flynn was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation” and that “it is not persuaded that the January 24, 2017 interview was conducted with a legitimate investigative basis.”
In the motion, filed by Timothy Shea, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said the FBI offered “frail and shifting justifications” for its ongoing investigation of Flynn. Those justifications and the “irregular procedure” in the lead-up to his interview led prosecutors to believe that “the FBI was eager to interview Mr. Flynn irrespective of any underlying investigation,” according to the motion.
Just before the filing was made public, federal prosecutor Brandon Van Grack withdrew from Flynn’s case.
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