‘ERODING LEVEL OF TRUST,’ NOT TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS WITH RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR, THE REASON WHITE HOUSE ASKED FOR MICHAEL FLYNN’S RESIGNATION AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, OFFICIALS CLAIM.
White House says it’s about ‘trust,’ not Russia
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump was told in late January that his top national security aide had misled his vice-president, three weeks before Trump ousted adviser Michael Flynn amid a swirling public controversy over Flynn’s contacts with a Russian official, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.
Press secretary Sean Spicer said Flynn’s firing on Monday was prompted by a gradual “erosion of that trust” and not any concern about the legality of the retired general’s calls with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
Flynn’s ouster appeared to be driven more by public attention and by the idea that he had misled VicePresident Mike Pence and other officials than by the content of his discussions.
“This was an act of trust — whether or not he misled the vice-president was the issue and that was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting the resignation of Gen. Flynn,” Spicer said, adding that the president was briefed on Jan. 26 that Flynn’s account of the conversation was misleading.
The briefing claim is at odds with Trump’s assertion last week that he was unaware of a news report about Flynn’s actions.
John McCain, the influential Republican senator and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called for an investigation into the administration’s ties to Russia. “Gen. Flynn’s resignation also raises further questions about the Trump administration’s intentions toward Vladimir Putin’s Russia,” he said.
Leading Democrats echoed those calls and demanded to know when or if Trump had any knowledge of the discussions Flynn had on U.S. sanctions with the Kremlin’s ambassador.
Flynn’s resignation came after reports that the Justice Department had alerted the White House weeks ago that there were contradictions between Trump officials’ public accounting of the Russia contacts and what intelligence officials knew to be true based on routine recordings of communications with foreign officials who are in the U.S.
The revelations were another destabilizing blow to an administration that has already suffered a major legal defeat on immigration, botched the implementation of a signature policy and stumbled through a string of embarrassing public relations missteps.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Russia critic, said Congress needs to know what Flynn discussed with the ambassador and why.
“The idea that he did this on his own without any direction is a good question to ask,” Graham added.
The Justice Department had warned the White House late last month that Flynn could be at risk for blackmail because of contradictions between his public depictions of the calls and what intelligence officials said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Trump made the right decision in asking Flynn to step down.
“You cannot have the national security adviser misleading the vice-president and others,” Ryan said.
Trump, who had been conspicuously quiet about Flynn’s standing for several days, took to Twitter Tuesday morning and said the “real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington?” He ignored questions about Flynn from reporters during an education event at the White House Tuesday morning.