US Justice Dept drops Flynn case
The US Justice Department withdrew its case against former White House national security advisor Michael Flynn Thursday, handing President Donald Trump a major political victory.
In a nearly unheard-of reversal, the department said in a filing that Flynn's December 2017 guilty plea for lying to the FBI in an interview over his Russia contacts was moot because the lies were insignificant.
It also said the FBI's original probe of him -- part of the sweeping counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election -- had no "legitimate investigative basis."
The decision by close Trump ally Attorney General Bill Barr effectively reversed 18 months of work by the department and FBI under Barr's predecessors.
It also added fuel to Trump's allegation over the past three-plus years that the Russia robe was a political "witch hunt."
He took aim at the FBI and Justice Department officials behind the original investigation. "I hope a lot of people are going to pay a big price, because they're dishonest crooked people. They're scum and I say it a lot. They're scum, they're human scum," he said.
Current and former officials associated with the investigation voiced outrage and accused Barr of doing Trump's bidding.
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