Michael Flynn is the Latest White Man Whose Actions Have No Consequences

It really must be nice to be a white man in America. Imagine pleading guilty twice to a crime and still getting away with it. That is the case for former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The New York Times reports that the Justice Department has dropped its case against Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty twice to lying to FBI investigators about having contact with Russian diplomat Sergei Kislyak. As he had these conversations before President Trump had assumed the office, they were seen as an attempt to undermine the authority of then President Barack Obama.

Flynn withdrew his guilty plea earlier this year and began to fight his case. Flynn continuously attacked the FBI and prosecutors on his case, saying they operated in “bad faith”. The judge overseeing the case rejected Flynn’s claims of misconduct back in December, according to the Times. Attorney General and sentient ham sandwich William Barr then made the very suspect move of having an outside prosecutor review Flynn’s case.

From The Times:

In recent days, Mr. Flynn’s lawyers said the Justice Department had uncovered new documents that pointed to misconduct, particularly in investigators’ interview of Mr. Flynn in January 2017 as part of its inquiry into whether Trump advisers conspired with Russia’s election interference.

Law enforcement officials cited that interview in moving to drop the charges, saying in a court filing that the some of newfound documents showed that the questioning “was untethered to, and unjustified by, the F.B.I.’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and that the case did not meet the legal standard that Mr. Flynn’s lies be “materially” relevant to the matter under investigation.

President Trump had considered pardoning Flynn but was told to hold off by advisers. As a fellow white man who committed a crime and got away with it, his reaction to the case being dropped was entirely predictable. Trump told reporters that Flynn was “an innocent man,” and that he sees him as an “even greater warrior.”

The FBI began investigating Flynn in January 2017, only four days after Trump had been inaugurated. He was fired a month later for lying about his ties to Russia. This resulted in him holding the record for shortest time served as national security adviser at only 24 days.