Flynn flew past several red flags
WARNINGS IGNORED Trump kept the NSA on despite being notified about his Russia connections
WASHINGTON : Among the first set of advices President-elect Donald Trump received from Barack Obama was to not appoint Gen (retired) Michael Flynn, said aides of the former president, but Trump chose to ignore it.
Flynn became Trump’s first appointment as his national security adviser. He remained on the job, overseeing several key developments, despite specific and official warnings from the justice department about his contacts with Russia.
“We wanted to tell the White House as quickly as possible,” then acting attorney general Sally Q Yates, an Obama-appointee said at a Senate hearing on Monday. “You don’t want your national security adviser compromised with the Russians.”
These warnings, she told Senators, were conveyed over two days — January 26 and 27 — to the White House counsel. But Trump kept Flynn on for another 18 days.
Yates’ testimony brought fresh attention to this administration’s Russia problem.
Trump tried to shift blame, tweeting: “General Flynn was given the highest security clearance by the Obama Administra- tion - but the Fake News seldom likes talking about that.”
Out of patience with Trump’s unceasing attacks on Obama, the former President’s aides hit back, telling media outlets that Obama told the president-elect to not hire Flynn during their first one-onone meeting on November 10, which had lasted 90 minutes.
Back on the defensive, the White House pushed back. “President Obama made it known that he wasn’t exactly a fan of Gen Flynn’s,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.