DOJ paying Flynn $1.25 million to settle a baseless case of malicious prosecution could set a dangerous precedent

[Miles Archer]

Last edited Sun Mar 29, 2026, 03:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Trump’s settlement to Michael Flynn could set a dangerous precedent
While this result is far from just, perhaps more concerning is what it invites others to do.

Mar. 27, 2026, 5:55 PM EDT
By Mary McCord

The Justice Department on Wednesday set an ominous new precedent when it agreed to pay former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn $1.25 million to settle a baseless case of malicious prosecution.

It was also another windfall for a man who was rightly prosecuted and had rightly pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI before President Donald Trump’s DOJ dismissed the case and Trump pardoned him during his first term.

The payoff is a miscarriage of justice. Worse, it encourages others who Trump favors — such as the Jan. 6 defendants — to seek similar windfalls that support his efforts to rewrite history.

Transcripts of Flynn’s conversation with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak showed that Flynn had, in fact, asked that Russia not take any action that would “escalate . . . on a tit for tat.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-settlement-michael-flynn-could-215545665.html

[sop]

1. The most corrupt administration in U.S. history...

[spanone]

4. Who's surprised. Elect a criminal, get a crime.

Meanwhile...

[malaise]

2. Flynn pleaded guilty

This is just spreading the wealth among your goons using tax payer miney

[spanone]

3. Trmp will drain the treasury before he leaves office.

[sop]

9. 'Trump would like the government he leads to pay him billions'

(NPR) "Of all the ways President Trump has pushed the boundaries of executive power, one stands out to lawyers and watchdogs."

"The president wants the government he leads to pay him billions of dollars."

"Trump has filed multiple claims arguing he's been hurt by Justice Department investigations and the leak of his tax returns years ago. Now it's up to his own political appointees to determine whether to settle with their boss — and for how much taxpayer money."

" 'There is a glaring conflict of interest with Trump being on both sides of the claim,' said Edward Whelan, a former lawyer at the Justice Department and a political conservative who once clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. 'It is outrageous that he and those answering to him would be deciding how the government responds to these extravagant claims.' "

"Typically, the Justice Department would fight claims in court and defend the work of its career prosecutors and FBI agents. And in this case, they would have strong legal defenses. After all, a federal judge approved the search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago property — finding probable cause."

"Given how much money is at stake, people at the top of the Justice Department would make the final call. And that adds another complication."

"Attorney General Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, her deputy, both used to work as Trump's personal attorneys. The third-in-command at Justice, Stanley Woodward, represented Trump's valet, who was charged as an alleged co-conspirator in the Mar-a-Lago case."

" 'The fear that many have is that the Department of Justice will simply fold and ask Donald Trump the individual how much money Donald Trump's administration should funnel to him,' said Whelan, the former DOJ lawyer."

Article at link:

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/18/nx-s1-5702503/trump-government-lawsuits-pay-himself-billions

[in2herbs]

5. If this originated in a court filed action with a judge overseeing, why won't this settlement have to

be reviewed by the court?

[Baitball Blogger]

6. This is how they grift.

[Celerity]

7. you forgot the link

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-settlement-michael-flynn-could-215545665.html

[Miles Archer]

10. Thank you, I'll go back and add it n/t

[Botany]

8. Please isn't Flynn being paid enough by Putin?

The man should be in prison. End of story. He helped to Russia to get the Crimea in 2014, helped to
pass on campaign data to Russia in 2016, and was caught trying to set up a secret back channel
communications system in 2017 between Trump and Russia.