Trump Pardoned Flynn to Save Himself - 2020-11-25

Trump Pardoned Flynn to Save Himself November 25, 2020, David Frum, The Atlantic

---

Here's the first and most important thing to understand about the crime for which President Trump just pardoned former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn: Flynn did not lie to protect himself. He lied to protect Donald Trump.

At the end of December 2016, Flynn had a series of conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. A month later, on January 24, 2017, Flynn was asked about those conversations by the FBI agent Peter Strzok.

In the first set of conversations, Flynn urged Kislyak to oppose a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity. The second set occurred a week later, while Flynn was on holiday in the Dominican Republic. There, Flynn sought to convince Kislyak to persuade the Russian government not to retaliate against the United States, over a round of sanctions punishing Russia for intervening in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | first = David | last = Frum | title = Trump Pardoned Flynn to Save Himself | url = https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/trump-pardoned-flynn-protect-himself/617220/ | work = The Atlantic | date = November 25, 2020 | accessdate = November 30, 2020 }}