STICKING TO GUNS
PRESIDENT TRUMP spent the eve of his 100th day in office defending a firing he made less a month into his time in the White House, lashing out at the media and paying his respects to the NRA.
As the investigations into his former national security adviser Michael Flynn continue to mushroom, Trump attempted to lay the blame on the previous administration.
“When they say we didn’t vet, well Obama I guess didn’t vet, because he was approved at the highest level of security by the Obama administration,” Trump said Friday on Fox News Channel’s “The First 100 Days.”
He added that he sympathizes with the retired general.
“Well let me just tell you, I do feel badly for him. He served the country. He was a general,” he added.
Flynn, who campaigned alongside Trump for much of 2016, was forced to resign as national security adviser less than a month into the nascent Trump presidency for lying to Vice President Pence about his discussions with a Russian diplomat.
Then-President Barack Obama fired Flynn from his post as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. The Trump administration appears to have not subjected Flynn to any additional scrutiny beyond his security clearance, which flies in the face of standard practice for the powerful post Trump appointed him to.
Investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election led to more scrutiny of Flynn’s activities, including receiving more than $30,000 from Kremlinbacked TV network RT for a 2015 trip to Moscow where he sat next to Vladimir Putin.
Complicating matters for Trump, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported late Friday that his transition team did an additional background check and was aware of Flynn’s business ties to Turkey.
A former Obama aide called Trump’s claims “absurd.”
“The responsibility in vetting him belongs on the incoming administration,” former Obama communications director Jen Psaki told CNN. “So this is kind of an absurd blame game here.”
Trump’s defense comes as the Pentagon’s watchdog confirmed it was investigating Flynn and his relation to the Russia probe.
Trump also used the interview to praise Fox News for its “fair” coverage of his presidency, while knocking other network news channels.
“They do the Russia, the faux Russia, I call it ‘the fake Russia story,’ Russia story was made up because they’re embarrassed — they were embarrassed by their loss,” he said.
Trump spent the first half of his day thanking the National Rifle Association, the group that did more than any other to get him to the White House.
Trump spoke at the NRA’s annual convention in Atlanta, making him the first sitting President in more than three decades to address the group. And he made it clear he’s in their corner as the NRA looks to undermine current gun laws and block any new ones.
“The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end. You have a true friend and champion in the White House,” Trump declared during his speech.
The NRA was a huge ally to Trump during his rise last year, endorsing him earlier than it usually throws its support to candidates and spending huge sums to help boost him in some key states.
“The NRA stood with Donald Trump during the darkest days of that campaign. We never wavered,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre declared.