The federal government wants to move former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn‘s $50 million wrongful prosecution lawsuit from Florida to Washington, D.C., where years ago a judge resisted the Department of Justice’s bid to drop its own criminal case against the retired Army lieutenant general.
DOJ lawyers filed a motion on Monday arguing that the Florida venue is inconvenient because relevant documents and most of the key witnesses are located in or around the D.C. area. Although prosecutors acknowledge Flynn is a Florida resident, the government says all of the “acts and omissions” that form the basis of his lawsuit took place within the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The Daily Wire reached out to Flynn’s lawyers for comment.
Flynn, who served as Defense Intelligence Agency director under President Obama, filed suit in early March, seeking compensatory damages expected to exceed $50 million over allegations of malicious prosecution and abuse of process stemming back to the 2016 campaign, transition period, and Trump administration.
The lawsuit argues government officials conspired to “investigate, entrap, and prosecute” Flynn when former President Trump picked him to be his national security adviser. Federal agents were aware Flynn had the “authority and intelligence background to uncover and expose” the FBI’s Russia inquiry into Trump, the complaint says.
Over the course of Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents regarding conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and agreed to cooperate with the inquiry. However, in 2020, Flynn’s legal team moved to withdraw his guilty plea while accusing the government of acting in “bad faith” and vindictiveness as it requested up to a six-month jail sentence, after which the DOJ sought to abandon the charges. The legal matter was drawn out when a U.S. district judge in D.C. refused to dismiss the case, but it came to a close with Trump pardoning Flynn in November 2020.
The controversy led to Flynn losing his national security adviser position within weeks of starting the role. Still, he has appeared in Trump’s orbit since that time.
Flynn has come under scrutiny by investigators looking into the events surrounding the U.S. Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, amid reports that he took part in a White House meeting that touched on declaring martial law, seizing voting machines, and making Flynn’s attorney in the false statements case, Sidney Powell, special counsel to investigate the 2020 election.
During remarks last month at a Lee County Republican dinner in Fort Myers, Florida, Trump gave Flynn a shout-out. “Stay in good health Michael,” Trump said. “Get ready, okay? It’s not long. A year and a half, Michael. Just stay healthy!”