Judge Emmit Sullivan Tuesday dismissed the federal case against disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, citing lame duck president Donald Trump’s pardon as the reason for rendering the case moot, Reuters Brian Heath reports.
Sullivan noted in his opinion that he is skeptical of Flynn’s claims that he simply forgot the topics of his conversations with Russian government officials. Sullivan also stated that the government’s argument for withdrawing the charges “appear pretextual, particularly in view of the surrounding circumstances.”
Sullivan said that Trump’s interest in the case was evident by the 200 times Trump had tweeted about Flynn. However, given the power of a presidential pardon, there is no other action the Court could take but to dismiss the case.