President Trump said he would be open to bringing former national security adviser Michael Flynn back to the White House as questions emerge about how he was treated by the FBI.
“I would certainly consider it,” he told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Flynn initially pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents but withdrew his plea in January and is now seeking to have the case dropped.
On Wednesday, his lawyers released FBI communications they said suggest he was set up to lie when questioned three years ago about his contacts with Russian officials.
Agents discussed their approach in a handwritten note. “What is our goal? Truth/admission or to get him to lie,” the notes read, “so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
The president’s conservative allies have used the unsealed court documents as fodder for their claim that Mueller’s probe was a politically-motivated attack on the White House.
During a White House event to discuss protecting senior citizens from coronavirus, Trump was asked about the developments.
“What they did to Gen Flynn was a disgrace,” he said. “What they tried to do to destroy him and to hurt this presidency was … perhaps in our country’s history there’s never been anything like it.”
The president said there would be no need to pardon Flynn if the new evidence led to the case being dismissed.
“Look, I’m not the judge but I have a different type of power. I don’t know that anyone would have to use that power,” he said. “I think he’s exonerated.”
Trump demanded Flynn’s resignation in February 2017. In his resignation letter, Flynn admitted that he had “inadvertently” misled Vice President Pence about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
Earlier on Wednesday, Pence addressed the issue during a visit to Indiana and said he was troubled by the new revelation. “I know what Gen Flynn told me, and I’m more inclined to believe it was unintentional than ever before,” he said.
