Trump: Nothing to fear in Flynn’s talks with FBI
Former national security adviser admitted lying about his Russia contacts
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump said Saturday he is not worried what former national security adviser Michael Flynn might share now that he is cooperating with prosecutors, asserting that there was “absolutely no collusion” between his campaign and Russia.
On a day he spent largely being whisked among political fundraising events, Trump both talked to reporters and took to Twitter to weigh in on the case of Flynn, who pleaded guilty Friday to lying to the FBI about his interactions with a Russian official.
A tweet posted Saturday afternoon by the president suggested that Flynn’s misstatements to the FBI were part of the rationale for Trump’s firing him just 25 days into the new administration — something the White House had never asserted before and that some observers speculated could be legally problematic for Trump.
Flynn’s decision to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller III was widely seen as a sign of increasing legal peril for other White House aides and perhaps Trump himself, as the investigation has expanded to include obstruction of justice and financial crimes.
Asked by a reporter as he left the White House Saturday morning whether he was worried about what Flynn might tell prosecutors, Trump said: “No, I’m not. And what has been shown is no collusion. No collusion. There has been absolutely no collusion. So we’re very happy.”
Later in the day, while traveling between fundraisers to benefit his re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee, the president tweeted that he thought Flynn’s lies were a “shame,” given that the former adviser’s underlying actions were “lawful” and that he’d had “nothing to hide.”
Flynn, who had been one of Trump’s closest and must trusted aides during the campaign and transition, admitted lying to the FBI about pre-inauguration communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak regarding efforts to blunt the Obama administration’s Russia sanctions and a U.N. resolution on Israel — potential violations of a rarely enforced law.
In his Saturday tweet, Trump added to his previously stated rationale for firing Flynn.
“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI,” Trump said in the tweet.
Trump lawyer John Dowd drafted the president’s tweet, according to two people familiar with the message. Its authorship raises questions about the public relations strategy of the president’s chief lawyer.
Two people close to the administration described the tweet simply as sloppy and unfortunate.
Several legal observers suggested the tweet could add to Trump’s legal exposure in a potential obstruction-of-justice investigation.
The day after Trump fired Flynn, Trump urged then-FBI Director James Comey to be lenient with his former national security adviser, according to Comey’s notes at the time.
If Trump knew at that point that Flynn had lied to the FBI and was under investigation, the observers said, his appeal to Comey could constitute an attempt to obstruct that investigation.