President Trump praised the ending of the Russia issue

President Trump praised the ending of the Russia issue

WASHINGTON 

 In an abrupt about-face, the Department of Justice said it's dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying call for the president and his supporters in attacking the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation. The action Thursday was a surprising reversal for one amongst the signature cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. It comes while prosecutors for the past three years have maintained that Flynn lied to the FBI in a very January 2017 interview about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. Flynn admitted the maximum amount, pleading guilty before later asking to withdraw the plea, and he became a key cooperator for Mueller because the special counsel investigated ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 political campaign. Thursday's action was swiftly embraced by Trump, who has relentlessly tweeted about the "outrageous" case and last week pronounced Flynn "exonerated," and it's likely to energise supporters of the president who have concerned the retired Army general officer as a cause. Trump praised Attorney General William Barr for abandoning the prosecution of Flynn