Pressure piles on Flynn; Trump silent
Democrats are calling for Flynn’s security clearance to be suspended or revoked
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White House national security adviser Michael Flynn is under increasing political pressure and risks losing the confidence of some colleagues following reports that he misled senior administration officials about his discussion of sanctions with a Russian envoy shortly before President Trump took office.
As White House aides scramble to get their stories straight about the exact nature of those communications and as Democrats call for Flynn’s security clearance to be suspended or revoked, neither Trump nor his advisers have publicly defended Flynn or signalled that he has the president’s confidence.
Privately, some administration officials said that Flynn’s position has weakened and support for him has eroded largely because of a belief that he was disingenuous about Russia and therefore could not be fully trusted going forward.
“The knives are out for Flynn,” said one administration official who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly.
On Sunday, the top White House aide dispatched to represent the administration on the political talk shows pointedly declined to defend Flynn. Asked on NBC’s
whether the president had confidence in Flynn, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said he did not know. “It’s not for me to tell you what’s in the president’s mind,” Miller said, adding that his colleagues at the White House “did not give me anything to say” about Flynn.
When ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Miller about Flynn’s interactions with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Miller said, “I don’t have any news to make ... today on this point.”
The Washington Post revealed last week that Flynn and Kislyak had discussed US sanctions against Russia in the month before Trump’s inauguration. This was confirmed by nine current and former US officials, contrasted with the assurances made publicly by Vice President Pence.