DOJ Settles Michael Flynn Lawsuit for Roughly $1.2 Million

The Justice Department settled for roughly $1.2 million a lawsuit with Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump who pleaded guilty during Trump's first term to lying about phone conversations with a top Russian diplomat but was later pardoned.

Court papers filed Wednesday did not reveal the settlement amount, but a person familiar with the matter, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose nonpublic information, confirmed the total as about $1.2 million. Bloomberg News also placed the figure at $1.25 million, citing a person familiar with the settlement. Lawyers for the government and for Flynn notified a federal judge in Florida that they had reached an agreement involving the payment of "settlement funds," but did not publicly disclose the amount or any other terms.

According to a notice of settlement filed in the Middle District of Florida, the case will be dismissed with prejudice once Flynn confirms receipt of the funds, preventing the claims from being refiled. The filing states each party will bear its own legal costs and that the court will not retain jurisdiction over the agreement.

The settlement resolves a 2023 lawsuit in which Flynn sought at least $50 million and asserted that the criminal case against him amounted to a malicious prosecution. A federal judge had previously thrown out Flynn's lawsuit in 2024 following a motion to dismiss filed by the Justice Department during the Biden administration, after ruling that Flynn had failed to meet essential elements showing he was a victim of malicious prosecution. Flynn's attorneys sought to revive their case after President Trump returned to office, and the department disclosed in a filing last year that it had been engaged in settlement talks with his legal team.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to giving false statements to the FBI about his communications with Russia's ambassador to the United States. He had lied to FBI agents during a January 2017 interview in the White House about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The settlement is the latest turn in the long-running legal saga involving Flynn, one of six Trump associates charged as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Flynn later sought to withdraw his guilty plea and accused federal prosecutors of acting in bad faith. By 2019, he claimed innocence, citing alleged FBI misconduct. Flynn was later pardoned by Trump, ending the court case and the legal wrangling.

The settlement represents a stark turnabout for a Justice Department that during the Biden administration had pressed a judge to dismiss the complaint. Attorney General Pam Bondi, a former personal lawyer for the president, has been a vocal critic of the Russia investigation in which Flynn was charged, and the FBI and Justice Department over the last year have pushed out officials who participated in criminal inquiries of Trump.

The department made no effort to temper its language in describing the outcome. A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement: "Those who instigated the Russia Collusion Hoax and Crossfire Hurricane abused their power to mislead the American people and tarnish the reputations of President Trump and his supporters. Today's settlement, secured by this Justice Department, is an important step in redressing that historic injustice."

Not everyone accepted that framing. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the DOJ's decision to settle "as outrageous as it is indefensible," noting that Flynn "pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials at a time when Russia was actively interfering in our democratic process." Warner added that paying Flynn a million-dollar settlement "sends exactly the wrong message to our adversaries, to our intelligence professionals, and to the American people."

The settlement is well below the $50 million in damages Flynn initially sought when he first filed the lawsuit in 2023, but will still likely fuel questions as to whether Flynn received a favorable outcome due to his continued vocal support for President Trump. Since his ouster during the first Trump administration, Flynn has retained close connections with Trump's inner circle while pushing a range of conspiracy theories to his substantial social media following. According to information gathered by the House select committee that investigated the January 6 Capitol attack, Flynn was among advisers who urged Trump to seize voting machines after the 2020 election and said in media appearances that Trump should use the military to "basically rerun" elections in states that he had lost.