President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would welcome retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn back into his administration now that the former national security adviser’s legal troubles are on the verge of receding.
The president’s comments come as Trump and his allies have worked to lionize Flynn as a victim of "deep state" investigations.
“He’s gone through hell. He’s been destroyed, but he’ll make a comeback,” Trump told CBS News during a Tuesday White House interview. “He’s gonna make a great comeback.”
When asked if he would take Flynn back at the White House, Trump replied, “I would.”
Flynn, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, supported Trump’s 2016 campaign and served as the president’s first national security adviser. But the president removed Flynn in February 2017 — less than a month into his tenure — following revelations that Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence about his December 2016 conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the nature of his conversations with Kislyak. The former national security adviser later tried to withdraw his guilty plea before the Justice Department sought to drop their case against Flynn at the urging of Attorney General William Barr.
Last month, Flynn received a boost when a federal appeals court ordered Flynn’s case dismissed. Judge Emmet Sullivan, however, is asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the dismissal.
POLITICO recently reported that Trump allies are lobbying the campaign to let Flynn hit the trail to publicly advocate for the president’s reelection.
Trump lavished praise on Flynn in his interview with CBS and said Flynn was mistreated by investigators.
“I think he’s a great gentleman. He’s been in the military for many, many decades, actually,” Trump told CBS. “Highly respected. What Gen. Flynn went through is so unfair. And he’s still going through it.”
Trump’s warmth toward Flynn mirrors his public feelings toward some other former advisers who were investigated by prosecutors. Last week, Trump commuted the prison sentence of Roger Stone, the president longtime informal political adviser who was found guilty of impeding investigations into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.