Charges dropped against Flynn

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion on Thursday to dismiss the criminal case against Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser. Justice Department officials decided to drop the charges after a “review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information.”

What new information? The filing said Flynn’s interview with the FBI in January 2017 was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.” New documents recently came to light that show FBI agents on the case planned ahead of the interview to entrap Flynn. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to one count of lying to federal agents about his conversations with Russian officials in 2016. He later moved to withdraw his guilty plea. Flynn’s lawyers have accused the government of prosecutorial misconduct. After the announcement, the president reiterated his claim that Flynn was innocent and said, “I hope that a big price is going to be paid.”

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Stew about the new documents in the case.