President Trump said on Thursday that he would “certainly consider” bringing back former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn into his administration, saying that the retired general is already “exonerated.” Flynn, who has been trying to withdraw his guilty plea to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials, served just 24 days as Trump’s national security adviser. Trump announced in March that he was considering a “full pardon” for Flynn, however he said on Thursday that he likely does not need to do so because “it looks to me like Flynn would be exonerated by everything I see,” adding, “I don’t know that anybody would have to use that power.”
On Wednesday, a federal judge unsealed FBI documents that revealed conversations among officials considering whether their goal was to “get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired,” referring to Flynn. The unsealed FBI notes enraged Trump, who called the officials on Flynn’s case “dirty, filthy cops at the top of the FBI.”