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Donald Trump refuses to say whether he will pardon Michael Flynn: 'We'll see'

Mr Flynn appears to be cooperating with a special counsel's investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia 

Alexandra Wilts
Washington DC
Friday 15 December 2017 12:17 EST
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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before leaving the White House in Washington, Friday, Dec. 15, 2017, for a trip to Quantico, Virginia to attend the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before leaving the White House in Washington, Friday, Dec. 15, 2017, for a trip to Quantico, Virginia to attend the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony.

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President Donald Trump has refused to say whether he would pardon his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who pled guilty earlier this month to lying to the FBI.

“I don’t want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet. We’ll see what happens,” Mr Trump told reporters. “Let’s see, I can say this: When you look at what’s gone on with the FBI and the Justice Department, people are very, very angry.”

Mr Trump made his comments before he headed to Quantico, Virginia to make a speech at the FBI National Academy's graduation ceremony.

A few weeks ago, Mr Flynn admitted to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a senior-level Russian official, indicating he is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into alleged ties between the Kremlin and Trump campaign advisers.

Mr Flynn’s discussions with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, suggested that Mr Trump’s aides tried to create foreign policy before they were in power, according to documents released as part of Mr Flynn’s plea agreement.

On Friday, Mr Trump insisted again that there was “no collusion” between him and Russia.

“There is absolutely no collusion,” Mr Trump said. “I didn’t make a phone call to Russia. I have nothing to do with Russia. Everybody knows it. That was a Democrat hoax. It was an excuse for losing the election, and it should have never been this way, where they spent all these millions of dollars.”

Mr Trump has referred to the multiple Russia investigations as a “witch hunt”. Along with Mr Mueller, congressional committees are also looking into whether the Trump campaign team colluded with the Kremlin.

“When you look at the committees, whether it's the Senate or the House, everybody - my worst enemies, they walk out, they say, ‘There is no collusion but we'll continue to look.’ They're spending millions and millions of dollars,” Mr Trump told reporters on Friday.

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