Flynn quits amid questions over talks with Russia
President Trump’s embattled National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigned late last night following reports that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia — a departure that seemed to put Trump’s senior team in turmoil after less than one month in office.
In a resignation letter, Flynn said he held numerous calls with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the transition and gave “incomplete information” about those discussions to Pence. The vice president, apparently relying on information from Flynn, initially said the national security adviser had not discussed sanctions with the Russian envoy, though Flynn later conceded the issue may have come up.
Trump named retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg as the acting national security adviser. Kellogg had previously been appointed the National Security Council chief of staff and advised Trump on national security issues during the campaign.
The Justice Department warned the Trump administration weeks ago that contradictions between the public depictions and the actual details of the calls could leave Flynn in a compromised position, an administration official and two other people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press last night.
The resignation came after one top official had insisted Flynn had the “full confidence of the president,” while another official an hour later suggested his future was still undecided at that point.
“The president is evaluating the situation,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer had said in a statement earlier yesterday that offered no words of support for Flynn. Spicer added that Trump was talking to Mike Pence and “various other people” about Flynn’s conversation with Russian officials while former President Barack Obama was still in office.
Trump had also declined to publicly back Flynn during a brief exchange with reporters at the White House. When asked about him, Trump simply referred reporters back to the Spicer statement.
An hour earlier, on MSNBC, Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway had painted a rosy picture of Flynn’s future. “General Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president,” Conway said.
Flynn has been under fire over whether he discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December, the day the Obama administration imposed new ones over electionrelated hacking. It’s illegal for private citizens to conduct U.S. diplomacy.
Flynn had reportedly told Pence he did not discuss sanctions with Kislyak. But later, after multiple media reports on the conversation, Flynn walked that back, saying sanctions may have come up.
Separately yesterday, the Senate approved Steven Mnuchin for secretary of Treasury, 53-47. It was a party line vote, except for Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who joined the Republicans. Democrats have been furious with the selection of Mnuchin, alleging he made a fortune foreclosing on families during the Great Recession.
The Senate last night also approved David Shulkin as secretary of Veterans Affairs by a vote of 100-0.