The Department of Justice has settled for roughly $1.2 million a lawsuit from retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser in President Donald Trump's first term.
Court papers filed Wednesday did not reveal the settlement amount, but a person familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose nonpublic information, confirmed the total as about $1.2 million.
The settlement resolves a 2023 lawsuit in which Flynn sought at least $50 million and asserted that a criminal case against him amounted to a malicious prosecution.
Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian diplomat and was later pardoned. But Flynn sought to withdraw his guilty plea, saying federal prosecutors had acted in "bad faith" and broken their end of the bargain when they sought prison time for him.
It also represents a stark turnabout in position for a Department of Justice that during the Biden administration had pressed a judge to dismiss Flynn's complaint. Attorney General Pam Bondi, a former personal attorney for Trump, has openly criticized the Russia investigation in which Flynn was charged. The DOJ in the last year has opened investigations into former officials who participated in that inquiry.
The DOJ cast the settlement as an "important step in redressing" what it says was a "historic injustice" of the Russia investigation that shadowed Trump for much of his first term.
"This Department of Justice will continue to pursue accountability at all levels for this wrongdoing. Such weaponization of the federal government must never be allowed to happen again," a spokesperson said.
In a separate statement, Flynn said: "Nothing can fully compensate for the hell that my family and I have endured over these many years — the relentless attacks, the destruction of reputations, the financial ruin, and the profound personal toll inflicted upon us all. No amount of money or formal resolution can erase the pain caused by a prosecution that should never have been brought."
The settlement is the latest turn in the long-running legal saga involving Flynn, one of six Trump associates charged as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. That investigation found insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy.
Flynn, who vigorously campaigned at Trump's side, served for weeks as his first national security adviser before being pushed out of his position. He remained a Trump ally even after agreeing to cooperate with Mueller's team. He was pardoned in the final weeks of Trump's first term.
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