Trump Pardons Michael Flynn A Day Before Thanksgiving 2020

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he had granted a full pardon to former national security adviser Micheal Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his connection with a Russian envoy.

Flynn's lies spurred an investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Moscow. He pled guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017 to a felony count of making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements" to the FBI about discusions with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. at the time.

"It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!"

The pardon ends a three-year legal saga over a fight for separation of powers. In the spring, Attorney General William P. Barr moved to drop the charges against the former national security adviser. The Justice Department argued that the FBI should not have investigated Flynn. It also called his "lies" in 2017 "immaterial," CNN reported.

President Trump had previously revealed that he was "strongly considering" granting a full pardon to Flynn, and had told White House aides in recent days that he may exercise the pardon this week.

The Justice Department had not been consulted about a pardon, but they were notified in advance of the president's intentions, an official said.

Flynn is the only White House officials to be convicted during former FBI director Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia probe. Trump also granted clemency to former campaign adviser Roger J. Stone Jr., who was sentenced for seven felonies, including witness tampering and lying to authorities.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler blasted Trump's decision to pardon Flynn shortly after the president's announcement. He said the pardon was "undeserved" and shows "an abuse of power," Newsweek reported.

"This pardon is undeserved, unprincipled, and one more strain on President Trump's rapidly diminishing legacy. President Trump dangled this pardon to encourage Flynn to backtrack on his pledge to cooperate with federal investigators — cooperation that might have exposed the President's own wrongdoing," Nadler wrote in a statement.

"This pardon is part of a pattern. We may see it again before President Trump finally leaves office. These actions are an abuse of power and fundamentally undermine the rule of law," he continued.