Trump Says He Might Bring ‘Exonerated’ Michael Flynn Back Into Administration

President Donald Trump said Thursday he was open to bringing his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, back into the administration, amid new information casting a shadow of impropriety over the FBI’s case against the retired lieutenant general.

“I would certainly consider it. Yeah, I would,” Trump said at a White House press conference Thursday. He later said of Flynn: “He would be capable of coming back.”

Trump was also asked whether he would pardon Flynn over charges he lied to the FBI after newly released Justice Department documents showed notes about a conversation between FBI officials who considered whether to try “to get him to lie.” In late 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, but later withdrew the plea.

“It looks to me like Michael Flynn would be exonerated, based on everything that I’ve seen,” Trump said. “I’m not the judge, but I have a different kind of power. But I don’t know if anybody would have to use that power. I’ve never seen anything like it. What they did, what they wrote … it’s just disgraceful.”

The president called Flynn “a fine man.”

“They did everything possible to destroy him. He’s still breathing very strongly. But they hurt him very badly,” Trump said.

FBI documents unsealed on Wednesday show handwritten notes from then-FBI head of counterintelligence Bill Priestap after he met with then-FBI Director James Comey. One of the notes asked, “What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”

Documents go on to show there were discussions about following procedures: “If we’re seen as playing games, [White House] will be furious.”

After initial remarks about Wuhan CoronaVirus and its impact on senior citizens, all of the initial questions from the press pool for Trump were about Flynn, a major departure from the typical Wuhan CoronaVirus press briefing. But he was also asked several questions about...

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