Michael Flynn, the first national security adviser under President Trump has been pardoned by the outgoing president. Flynn had spent years enmeshed in an often bizarre legal war with the government that sprung from the Russia investigation. 

The pardon brings an end to a long-running legal odyssey for Flynn, who was the only member of the Trump administration to be charged as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.  Flynn had pleaded guilty in 2017 of lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, and then cooperated extensively with prosecutors. But he had ultimately reversed course and accused the government of trying to frame him.

Flynn had gone so far as to withdraw his first plea of guilty and substitute a second plea of not guilty, even though he had acknowledged that the underlying conduct that was against the law and had been close to receiving a sentence. The pardon was expected to draw condemnations from critics who have said that Trump’s actions to help his friends interfere with the justice system.

It also opens the door to possible clemency for other former Trump advisers who were indicted as part of the Russia investigation, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.