U.S. Justice Department seeks to drop case against Trump ex-adviser Flynn

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday abruptly sought to drop the criminal charges against President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, following mounting pressure from Trump's political allies on the right. The move comes as Flynn has been seeking to withdraw his 2017 guilty plea in which he admitted to lying to the FBI about interactions with Russia's ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak in the weeks before Trump took office.

Flynn was one of several former Trump aides to plead guilty or be convicted at trial in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that detailed Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. election to boost Trump's candidacy as well as numerous contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia.