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President Trump with Michael Flynn in 2016. Photo: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images
President Trump on Wednesday pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in the Mueller investigation to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with a former Russian ambassador.
Why it matters: It is the first of multiple pardons expected in the coming weeks, as Axios scooped Tuesday night.
What they're saying: "It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!" Trump tweeted.
- Roughly an hour before Trump announced the pardon over Twitter, Flynn tweeted a Bible verse.
- "This pardon is undeserved, unprincipled, and one more stain on President Trump’s rapidly diminishing legacy," House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) responded in a statement on Wednesday.
- House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy wrote on Twitter: "What happened to @GenFlynn was a national disgrace. ... President @realDonaldTrump is right to pardon the respected three-star general."
- House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) accused Trump of abusing the pardon power "to reward his friends and political allies" in a statement.
The big picture: Flynn's pardon is the culmination of a four-year political and legal saga that began with the FBI's probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian government in the 2016 election.
- The DOJ in May moved to drop its prosecution of Flynn, which Trump allies at the time viewed as the first major step in exposing the Russia investigation as a political hit job.
Between the lines: In his final weeks in office, Trump has the potential to expunge his friends and supporters of all federal criminal convictions, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Zachary Basu report.
This is a breaking story. Come back for more details.