House Speaker Nancy Pelosi excoriated President Trump for his pardon of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, calling the act a “brazen abuse of power.”
“President Trump’s pardoning of Michael Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his dealings with a foreign adversary, is an act of grave corruption and a brazen abuse of power,” Pelosi said Wednesday in a statement.
“Trump is again using the pardon power to protect those who lie to cover up his wrongdoing, just as he did when he commuted the sentence of campaign advisor Roger Stone, who was convicted on seven felony counts,” said Pelosi, a longtime member of the House Intelligence Committee.
Flynn initially pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislayak, but later, after firing his lawyers and hiring attorney Sidney Powell, withdrew his first plea and pleaded not guilty.
The Justice Department, after further review and more information was revealed about the handling of the FBI investigation into Flynn, dropped its case against the former Trump national security adviser.
The California Democrat called Flynn’s actions a “dangerous breach of our national security. He must be held accountable. Yet Trump and his team continue to put the president over country, as they politicize justice to shield Flynn and Trump from the law,” Pelosi said. “Sadly, this pardon is further proof that Trump plans to use his final days in office to undermine the rule of law in the wake of his failed presidency.”
Pelosi called on the new Congress to pass the Democrats’ Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would require the Department of Justice and White House to provide materials to Congress concerning any self-serving presidential pardon or commutation in cases involving the president or his relatives.
