Trump’s tweet raises the specter of obstruction, concerns allies
WASHINGTON — The shifting explanations for why President Donald Trump fired national security adviser Michael Flynn have revived questions about whether the president may have obstructed an ongoing investigation of potential contacts between his campaign and Russia.
Pressure on the administration has mounted since Flynn last week pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador, with prosecutors revealing that he is now cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. And a muddled White House response, including a problematic presidential tweet, has left some Trump confidants worried that the president is not being well-served by his legal team and believing his lawyers have painted a too-rosy picture of the president’s potential plight.
The president’s aides and legal advisers have scrambled for 48 hours to explain a presidential tweet that raised the specter of obstruction. It read: “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!”
That tweet appeared to indicate a change in the White House explanation for Flynn’s firing, suggesting Trump was aware when the White House dismissed Flynn on Feb. 13 that the national security adviser had lied to the FBI, whose agents had interviewed him weeks earlier. Former FBI Director James Comey has said Trump the following day brought up the Flynn investigation in private at the White House and told him he hoped he could “let this go,” raising the possibility he knew Flynn had lied and was looking to cover up the offense.
With questions raised by the tweet, Trump associates tried to put distance between the president and the potentially incriminating message.
A person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press that one of Trump’s attorneys, John Dowd, was responsible for crafting the tweet. Dowd declined to comment. A White House spokesman declined to answer whether Dowd dictated the tweet word-for-word to the White House director of social media, Dan Scavino, or whether Scavino, who has access to the @RealDonaldTrump account and its 44 million followers, put the sentiment into something resembling Trump’s own voice.