US President Donald Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who in 2017 pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about contacts with a Russian diplomat.
"It is my great honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has received a full pardon," Trump said on Twitter last night.
He told Flynn and his that he knew they were going to have a "fantastic Thanksgiving."
In a statement, Michael Flynn's family thanked the US president for "answering their prayers", while Democrats assessed the pardon as undeserved and unprincipled.
Flynn's secret conversations with the Russian ambassador in Washington in December 2016, before the inauguration of Donald Trump, were the cornerstone of the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mueller's investigation found no evidence of collusion between Trump's campaign team and Russia.
Michael Flynn was forced to resign just 22 days after becoming Trump's national security adviser.
However, even after that, Trump said that the investigation was a "witch hunt" and that Flynn was a "good man."
When he became national security adviser, he was questioned by the federal police, but he covered up his contacts with the Russian ambassador.
He had to resign soon after because he also lied to US Vice President Mike Pence.
In 2017, Flynn agreed to plead guilty to lying under oath and agreed to cooperate with an investigation into suspected collusion with Russia.
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