WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday he is considering a "Full Pardon" for former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about contacts with a Russia diplomat.

Claiming the FBI and Justice Department "lost" some of Flynn's records after "destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family," Trump tweeted: "How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!"

Attorney General William Barr has appointed an outside prosecutor to review the case against Flynn, who is still awaiting sentencing in federal court after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.

Trump sent the Flynn tweet just minutes before his scheduled phone conference with grocery executives to discuss the coronavirus threat. Flynn is in the process of trying to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming prosecutors engaged in misconduct.

Trump has long suggested he is considering a pardon for Flynn as well as other aides ensnared in investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. That group includes aides like Paul Manafort and Roger Stone.

Trump, who is in the middle of fighting a coronavirus pandemic, claims the FBI and other investigative agencies treated him and his aides unfairly.

Flynn pleaded guilty in late 2017 to lying to the FBI about his communication with Sergey Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador to the U.S., in the weeks before Trump took office.

Prosecutors said Flynn lied to FBI agents when he told them he did not discuss election-related sanctions against Russia with Kislyak.

Former federal prosecutor Barb McQuade, now a law professor at the University of Michigan, said that "Flynn admitted in open court that he lied to the FBI," and "that alone is a crime" that should not be undone with a presidential pardon.

"I have seen no reports of lost records," McQuade added, "but even if it were so, that would not undo Flynn’s serious crime."

The Flynn tweet was one of several Trump issued on a day otherwise devoted to meetings on coronavirus.

In various posts, Trump also attacked 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Critics accused Trump of taking his eye off the coronavirus ball.

"Great to see the President is 100 percent focused on the pandemic response," tweeted Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, following the Flynn pardon tweet.

David Plouffe, former campaign manager and senior adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted he is "sure if Churchill and Roosevelt had Twitter accounts, this is exactly how’d they be using them."

Richard Signorelli, a former U.S. attorney, tweeted that "Trump is up to his old tricks of distracting. Won't work now obviously."