It is unclear when the Department of Defense will be able to announce its decision on the matter. The Washington Post first reported the report to the Army.
Former President Donald Trump forgave Flynn, his first national security adviser, last November, an action that eliminated the plea of guilt that Flynn had made in 2017 – and then tried to withdraw in 2020 – for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during the 2016 presidential transition.
The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense opened its own investigation in April 2017, investigating the money Flynn received from Russian and Turkish entities after his retirement from the service and whether he did not obtain adequate approval to do so. The military has strict rules for payments that retired officers can receive from foreign countries after their retirement from service.
That investigation was suspended when the investigation by then-special lawyer Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and other investigations began.
“On April 11, 2017, the DoD OIG initiated an investigation into an allegation that retired Lieutenant General (LTG) Michael Flynn failed to obtain the necessary approval from the Army and State Department before receiving any government fee. foreign or from a foreign government – controlled entity. At the request of the Department of Justice (DOJ), we suspended our investigation in June 2017, pending the outcome of the criminal charges against LTG Flynn, “said IG spokeswoman Dwrena Allen, in a statement.
“After the former president pardoned LTG Flynn on November 25, 2020, we received permission from the DOJ to continue our investigation. On January 27, 2021, we closed our investigation against LTG Flynn and referred a number of administrative matters to the Interim Secretary of the Army for review and appropriate action, “added Allen.
In December 2017, Flynn became one of the most important defendants and the first to plead guilty and cooperate in Mueller’s investigation. He admitted to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during Trump’s presidential transition in 2016, and secretly lobbying Turkey.
But he dramatically reversed the course in 2019, tried to withdraw his guilty plea in 2020 and promoted conspiracy theories about Mueller’s investigation.
Flynn gravitated back to Trump’s orbit, and he and his lawyer helped the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
CNN’s Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.
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