The Justice Department on Thursday moved to drop its case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, in a stunning development that comes after internal memos were released raising serious questions about the nature of the investigation that led to Flynn’s late 2017 guilty plea of lying to the FBI.

The announcement came in a court filing “after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information,” as the department put it. DOJ officials said they concluded that Flynn’s interview by the FBI was “untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and that the interview was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”

Later Thursday afternoon, Flynn tweeted a video of his grandson reciting The Pledge of Allegiance, along with the message, “and JUSTICE for ALL.”

The federal judge overseeing the case would have to make the final determination to dismiss it.

READ: DOJ MOTION TO DISMISS FLYNN CASE

The retired Army lieutenant general for months has been trying to withdraw his plea, aided by a new attorney aggressively challenging the prosecution’s case and conduct. But, the case has been plodding through the court system with no resolution ever since his original plea, even amid speculation about whether President Trump himself could extend a pardon.

The DOJ move to dismiss the case would appear to put an end to that process.

MUELLER PROSECUTOR WITHDRAWS FROM FLYNN CASE AFTER QUESTIONS SURFACE CONCERNING HIS COMPLIANCE WITH COURT ORDER

Earlier Thursday, the top prosecutor on the case, Brandon Van Grack, abruptly withdrew from the case, without explanation, in a brief filing with the court.

Breadcrumbs were being dropped in the days preceding the decision that his case could be reconsidered. Documents unsealed a week ago by the Justice Department revealed agents discussed their motivations for interviewing him in the Russia probe – questioning whether they wanted to “get him to lie” so he’d be fired or prosecuted, or get him to admit wrongdoing. Flynn allies howled over the revelations, arguing that he essentially had been set up in a perjury trap. In that interview, Flynn did not admit wrongdoing and instead was accused of lying about his contacts with the then-Russian ambassador – to which he pleaded guilty.

The latest DOJ filing noted Flynn’s false statement plea pertained to a crime that required a statement “to be not simply false, but ‘materially’ false with respect to a matter under investigation.” The filing showed that the government “is not persuaded that the January 24, 2017 interview was conducted with a legitimate investigative basis and therefore does not believe Mr. Flynn’s statements were material even if untrue.”

The U.S. attorney reviewing the Flynn case, Jeff Jensen, recommended dropping the case to Attorney General William Barr last week and formalized the recommendation in a document this week.

“Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jensen said in a statement. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.”

President Trump reacted from the Oval Office just minutes after the DOJ filing surfaced. “He was an innocent man… Now, in my book, he’s an even greater warrior,” Trump said, while criticizing Obama administration officials. “They’re human scum. … It’s treason.”

Trump critics decried the decision Thursday.

Former FBI Director James Comey tweeted: “The DOJ has lost its way.”

And House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, who was a key figure during Trump’s impeachment proceedings, called the decision “outrageous.”

“The evidence against General Flynn is overwhelming,” Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement, while urging an inspector general investigation.

Meanwhile, the DOJ on Wednesday released a mostly unredacted version of former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s August 2017 “scope memo,” outlining the authority then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller had for his investigation. That document revealed for the first time that Mueller’s authority went significantly beyond what was known previously.

Rosenstein’s memo was known to have authorized Mueller to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation,” and “any other matters within the scope of [obstruction of justice laws].”

But, the new document made clear that Rosenstein authorized a deep-dive criminal probe into the Trump campaign that extended well beyond Russian interference efforts.

The memo revealed that Mueller was, among other things, looking into whether Flynn “committed a crime or crimes by engaging in conversations with Russian government officials during the period of the Trump transition.”

That was an apparent reference to the Logan Act, an obscure statute that has never been used in a criminal prosecution successfully and was intended to prevent individuals from claiming falsely to represent the United States government abroad.

MICHAEL FLYNN PROSECUTION: A TIMELINE OF TRUMP’S EX-NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER’S CASE

Meanwhile, the handwritten notes showing agents discussing his interview – which the FBI’s former head of counterintelligence Bill Priestap penned after a meeting with then-FBI Director James Comey and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe – sparked even bigger reverberations for the case.

The notes, released last week, showed agents considered various options in the run-up to the fateful January 2017 interview, including getting Flynn “to admit to breaking the Logan Act” when he spoke to former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period.

“What is our goal?” one of the notes read. “Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”

Another note read, “If we get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act, give facts to DOJ + have them decide.” The memo appeared to weigh the pros and cons of pursuing those different paths, while cautioning: “If we’re seen as playing games, WH [White House] will be furious.”

Aside from swiftly being ensnared in Mueller’s investigation in the fallout from that interview, Flynn was fired from his prominent post as national security adviser in February 2017. The resignation came as he was accused of misleading Vice President Pence and other senior White House officials about his communications with Kislyak.

Flynn’s communications with Kislyak in December 2016 had been picked up in wiretapped discussions, apparently unbeknownst to him. The FBI agents in January 2017 questioned him on the communications and later used his answers to form the basis for the false-statement charge and his guilty plea.

Flynn’s supporters have insisted he was innocent but was pressured to plead guilty when his son was threatened with prosecution and he exhausted his financial resources. The release of the handwritten FBI notes fueled accusations from Flynn’s defenders that agents did not conduct themselves properly in the case.

NOW-IMPERILED CASE AGAINST FLYNN COST HIM MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, HIS HOUSE, JOB

Meanwhile, the Rosenstein scope memo further authorized a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) review into Flynn’s dealings with Turkey. Prosecutors have suggested Flynn’s guilty plea on one count of false statements to the FBI allowed him to escape liability for a possible FARA charge – in other words, the FARA case may have provided leverage.

FARA prosecutions have picked up dramatically in recent years, and prosecutor Van Grack, who led the DOJ’s case against Flynn, was appointed to head up the new FARA unit at the Justice Department in 2019.

Van Grack has been under scrutiny for claiming to a federal court that he had turned over all relevant exculpatory informing involving Flynn – even though a slew of “exculpatory” documents surfaced last week.

The case has come at an enormous cost for the retired three-star Army lieutenant general and his family, as he racked up millions of dollars in legal bills, was forced to sell his house, lost his job and saw his reputation sullied.

Attorney Sidney Powell told Fox News last week that Flynn paid her first law firm, Covington & Burling, approximately $3.5 million. The total amount of Flynn’s legal bills was unclear, but reports suggested last year that he had more than $4.6 million in unpaid legal bills at that time.

Flynn earlier this year moved to withdraw his guilty plea for making false statements to the FBI regarding his communications with Kislyak. His legal team, at the time, said the move was “because of the government’s bad faith, vindictiveness and breach of the plea agreement.”

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In December 2017, and on the brink of financial ruin, Flynn was forced to put his home in Old Town Alexandria, Va. – located just outside Washington ,D.C. – on the market with an asking price of $895,000 to pay his mounting legal bills.

The townhouse sold for $819,995 in September 2018, Zillow showed. Powell confirmed the sale of the house to Fox News.

Fox News’ Gregg Re, Jake Gibson, Bill Mears, David Spunt and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Biden is marking Police Week with a statement that includes language about the “deep sense of distrust” toward cops by Black and brown Americans and the “trauma” caused by deaths in police custody — a statement described as “beyond disappointing” by one police group.

Biden’s proclamation marking both Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day, begins by praising law enforcement for their wide range of duties in securing public safety.

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“Every morning, our Nation’s law enforcement officers pin on a badge and go to work, not knowing what the day will bring, and hoping to come home safely,” the president says, before noting the impact of COVID-19 on the men and women in blue.

“As we recognize Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, we honor those who lost their lives in the line of duty, and thank them on behalf of this grateful Nation for their service,” he says.

AVERAGE POLICE OFFICER SALARIES ACROSS US RANGE FROM $19K TO $131K, DEPENDING ON LOCATION, STATISTICS SHOW

But after promising to support law enforcement “and work to ensure they have the resources and research tools they need to do their jobs successfully and the funding necessary to enhance officer safety and wellness,” the statement begins talking about the alleged harm caused to minority communities by police.

“This year, we also recognize that in many of our communities, especially Black and brown communities, there is a deep sense of distrust towards law enforcement; a distrust that has been exacerbated by the recent deaths of several Black and brown people at the hands of law enforcement,” he says.

Biden has pushed for police reform in the wake of the death of George Floyd, for which the police officer was convicted of murder, and his Department of Justice has returned to the Obama-era practice of issuing consent decrees to crack down on police departments — amid claims by activists and many Democrats that such deaths are caused by systemic racism.

“These deaths have resulted in a profound fear, trauma, pain, and exhaustion for many Black and brown Americans, and the resulting breakdown in trust between law enforcement and the communities they have sworn to protect and serve ultimately makes officers’ jobs harder and more dangerous as well,” Biden wrote. “In order to rebuild that trust, our State, local, and Federal Government and law enforcement agencies must protect constitutional rights, ensure accountability for misconduct, and embrace policing that reflects community values and ensures community safety.  These approaches benefit those who wear the badge and those who count on their protection.”

The statements are in stark contrast to those from the overwhelmingly positive proclamations issued by the Trump administration, and even the Obama administration — where a 2016 proclamation included no explicit reference to such controversies and said that cops “care deeply about their communities, and together with our partners in law enforcement, we must work to build up our neighborhoods, prevent crime before it happens, and put opportunity within reach for all our people.”

REPS. SCALISE, STAUBER: PEACE OFFICERS MEMORIAL DAY – IN NATIONAL POLICE WEEK, REMEMBER AND SAY THANKS

Biden’s proclamation comes amid a police week that was barely marked by the White House — although Biden did invite illegal immigrants protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to the White House, amid a number of non-cop related events.

“This week we pause to pay respect to our law enforcement officers, particularly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect their communities,” Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund told Fox News. “It is beyond disappointing to see the president of the United States continue to perpetuate false and hurtful myths about police, rather than uniting as he claimed he would during the campaign. “

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, accused Biden of expressing a “Bash the Blue” attitude toward law enforcement.

“I’m still DISGUSTED that Biden would use his official Police Week statement to suggest that every Cop is a racist. Democrat hatred for our police is outright REPULSIVE,” he tweeted.

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The controversy comes as Biden faces continued pressure on policing from the left of his own party, who have pushed for police departments to be defunded entirely. 

Fox News reported that Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush on Thursday praised a Black Lives Matter activist who advocated “death” for police officers in 2014 and tweeted the BLM chant “pigs in a blanket fry ’em like bacon.” 

EXCLUSIVE: Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee say there is “significant circumstantial evidence” that the COVID-19 outbreak stemmed from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, urging the federal government to put “more pressure on China” to allow for a “full, credible investigation” into the source of the global pandemic. 

Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Republicans on the panel released a report Wednesday, first obtained by Fox News, saying it is “crucial for health experts and the U.S. government to understand how the COVID-19 virus originated” to prevent “or quickly mitigate future pandemics.” 

HOUSE INTEL REPUBLICANS PRESS BIDEN, DNI HAINES FOR MORE INFORMATION ON COVID-19 LAB LEAK THEORY

“International efforts to discover the true source of the virus, however, have been stymied by a lack of cooperation from the People’s Republic of China,” Republicans wrote. “Nevertheless, significant circumstantial evidence raises serious concerns that the COVID-19 outbreak may have been a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” 

Republicans pointed to China’s “history of research lab leaks resulting in infections,” and warnings from U.S. diplomats in China as early as 2017 that the Wuhan lab was conducting “dangerous research” on coronaviruses without following “necessary safety protocols, risking the accidental outbreak of a pandemic.” 

Republicans also pointed to public reports that “several researchers in the Wuhan lab were sickened with COVID-19-like symptoms” in Fall 2019, and the Chinese military’s “involvement in the Wuhan Lab.” 

“By contrast, little circumstantial evidence has emerged to support the PRC’s claim that COVID-19 was a natural occurrence, having jumped from some other species to human,” they wrote, saying Chinese authorities “have failed to identify the original species that allegedly spread the virus to humans, which is critical to their zoonotic transfer theory.” 

Committee Republicans also claimed there are “clear signs” that U.S. government agencies and academic institutions “may have funded or collaborated in Gain of Function research” at the Wuhan Lab, claiming that research “was published even after the U.S. government had paused these kinds of studies in the United States due to ethical concerns over their biowarfare applicability and their potential to accidentally unleash a pandemic. 

“To protect American citizens from future pandemics, the U.S. Government must place more pressure on China to allow full, credible investigations of the source of the COVID-19 pandemic and to allow probes of the likelihood that it resulted from a lab leak,” the report states. “The U.S. Government must also provide a full accounting of any American cooperation with the Wuhan lab’s coronavirus research, including the support of these projects through U.S. Government funds.” 

The report was released after Nunes and other GOP members on the committee penned letters to President Biden and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, accusing the intelligence community of failing to provide timely updates on its investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and of not being “forthcoming” about “what processes it undertook to make seemingly authoritative statements early in the pandemic about the origins of the virus — conclusions that are now in question.” 

The letters demanded that the intelligence community turn over all of its information on COVID-19’s origins, requesting any reporting on a possible “collaboration” between the Wuhan lab and the Chinese military. It asked for any evidence intelligence agencies had to prove coronavirus broke out naturally and originated in animals, and also asked if the intelligence community was involved in any reviews of “gain of function” research and whether it was appropriate to fund such research outside the U.S.

The letters set a deadline of May 31 to begin providing information relevant to the request.

WUHAN ‘LAB LEAK’ CORONAVIRUS THEORY IN FOCUS AS HOUSE REPUBLICANS DEMAND ANSWERS

The calls for more information come after the White House last month said it believes that China has “not been transparent” in releasing its findings on the origins of COVID-19, as part of a report it wrote in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

The report dismissed claims that COVID-19 had escaped from a lab in Wuhan and instead called the theory of zoonotic transmission, or transfer of infection from animals to humans, “likely to very likely.”

The White House said the WHO’s China report lacks crucial information and provides just a “partial, incomplete picture” of the virus’s origin.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki last month called on China and the WHO to allow international experts “unfettered access” to data and to allow them to ask questions of people on the ground at the time of the outbreak. Psaki said that U.S. medical experts are still reviewing the report, but the White House believes it “doesn’t meet the moment.”

RAND PAUL, FAUCI SPAR OVER COVID ORIGINS 

The report calls the prospect that the virus transmitted from an animal reservoir to an animal host, followed by subsequent spread within that intermediate host that then transmits it to humans, “likely to very likely.” It calls the idea that the virus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology “extremely unlikely.”

The report called for further investigation in every area except the lab leak hypothesis.

Even WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the research team’s assessment on whether coronavirus entered the human population as a result of a laboratory incident was not “extensive enough.”

President Biden said last month he had not spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the origins of COVID-19.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.