The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame announced it will defer Mike Flynn’s 2024 induction following mass resignation and public outcry.
In a guest column published in the Providence Journal, Patrick Conley, the Hall of Fame’s past president said “the Hall of Fame exhibited ‘poor timing’ by choosing to honor General Flynn in this turbulent and politically charged environment.”
As a result, the Hall of Fame’s planned induction of Flynn has been deferred “to a more peaceful and rational time and a more secure place.”
At least eight board members have resigned as a result of the vote to induct Flynn and the Hall of Fame has received more than 100 letters in protest of Flynn’s induction.
Conley wrote that “a majority of the board that voted to induct Flynn relied upon his 30-year record of public service and high attainments. It accepted as true the grant of clemency from the president of the United States asserting that no crime was actually committed and the fact that charges against Flynn were dropped by a weaponized Department of Justice.”
Flynn served as Donald Trump’s national security advisor for three weeks. He was fired after it was revealed that he lied about conversations he had with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and received a pardon from Trump in 2020.
Since then, Flynn has become a popular figure in the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory movement.
