President says media, leaks to blame for Flynn downfall
Russia questions get deeper with report on team’s 2016 calls.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed the media and “illegally leaked” intelligence information for bringing down his national security adviser Michael Flynn, one day after the White House said Trump had asked Flynn to resign because he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russia.
Flynn’s ouster has sparked a n e w s w i r l o f c o n t r o - versy over Trump’s potential ties to Moscow. Flynn resigned Monday night — at the behest of Trump, the White House later said — after reports that he had discussed Obama administration-imposed sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. before the inauguration, despite previously denying those conversations to Pence and other top officials.
But in Trump’s first public comments on Flynn, he appeared to side with his former aide, saying it was “really a sad thing that he was treated so badly.”
Trump is said to favor Vice Adm. Robert Harward, a former Navy SEAL, as his next national securit y adviser, according to a White House official. Harward met with top White House officials last week and has the backing of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Flynn’s ouster was a blow t o a White Hous e s t r u ggling to find its footing in Trump’s first weeks in office. The questions about Russia only deepened late Tuesday when the New York Times reported that U.S. agencies had intercepted phone calls last year between Russian intelligence offic ials and members of Trump’s 2016 campaign team.
Current and former U.S. officials who spoke to the Times anonymously said they found no evidence that the Trump campaign was working with the Russians on hacking or other efforts to influence the election, but that the investigation was continuing.
Tr u mp d i d n’ t d i re c t l y address the veracity of the report during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but lashed out at what he called the “criminal act” of leaking information. Earlier Wednesday, Trump tweeted that “classified information is illegally given out by ‘intelligence’ like c andy. Ver y un-American!”
The president also praised a c o l u mn by El i L a ke o f Bloomberg View, which criticized the selective leaking of intercepted communications between Flynn and Kislyak. Lake went on to suggest, however, that Flynn had been sacrificed to protect other officials, potentially including the president himself.