Trump's DOJ Pays Flynn $1.25 Million After He Pleaded Guilty Twice -- Raskin Demands Answers

Two weeks after Donald Trump's Justice Department cut a check to convicted liar Michael Flynn, the smell of corruption is impossible to ignore. Now a top House Democrat wants answers about how a man who pleaded guilty twice ended up with $1.25 million in taxpayer funds.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding all documents related to the Flynn settlement. His message was blunt: this deal "offers a road map for this epically corrupt President to keep paying out his political underlings" with public money.

The backstory makes the payout even more outrageous. Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor and a registered foreign agent, was charged with lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian officials, lying about his work as a paid foreign agent, and illegally failing to register as a foreign agent while working on Trump's 2016 campaign.

Flynn did not deny these charges. He admitted to them. He pleaded guilty in open court -- twice. He became a cooperating witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Then Flynn changed lawyers. Suddenly, he decided he was no longer guilty of the crimes he had already confessed to committing. And then-Attorney General Bill Barr took an interest.

In a move that stunned legal observers, Barr's Justice Department announced it was dropping all charges against Flynn. The official explanation? The DOJ could not prove Flynn was guilty of the crimes Flynn had already pleaded guilty to committing. A retired federal judge later reviewed the case and accused the DOJ of "gross abuse of prosecutorial power."

Trump pardoned Flynn on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2020, burying the news in the holiday news cycle. It was one of the most brazenly corrupt acts of Trump's first term -- rewarding a loyalist who had lied to federal investigators and worked as an unregistered foreign agent.

But Flynn was not satisfied with a pardon. He wanted money. So he filed a lawsuit demanding $50 million in taxpayer funds, claiming federal law enforcement had subjected him to malicious prosecution.

Trump's Justice Department agreed to settle. For $1.25 million.

This is not how the justice system is supposed to work. You do not get to plead guilty to federal crimes, cooperate with investigators, change your mind, get bailed out by a politically motivated attorney general, receive a presidential pardon, and then collect a seven-figure payout from taxpayers.

Unless, apparently, you are a Trump loyalist.

Raskin's demand for transparency is more than justified. The American public deserves to know how this settlement was negotiated, who approved it, and what legal basis -- if any -- the Justice Department used to justify handing over more than a million dollars to a man who admitted under oath that he lied to federal agents.

The Flynn case has been a masterclass in how Trump and his allies manipulate the justice system to protect their own. Barr's intervention to drop charges. Trump's pardon. And now, a massive taxpayer-funded payout.

Flynn lied to the FBI. He worked as a foreign agent without registering. He pleaded guilty. And now he is $1.25 million richer, courtesy of the American taxpayer.

If that does not meet the definition of corruption, nothing does.