Trump pardons Michael Flynn

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.