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Trump knew for weeks Michael Flynn misled over russia contact
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Transcript of Trump knew for weeks Michael Flynn misled over russia contact
Trump knew for weeks
Michael Flynn misled
over Russia contact
White House says resignation a result of „eroding
level of trust‟, not potential violation of law, as
GOP divided over inquiry into Flynn‟s calls with
ambassador.
Donald Trump broke his silence on Michael Flynn‟s
resignation by attempting to deflect attention to
North Korea in a tweet.
Lauren Gambino, Ben Jacobs, Sabrina Siddiqui
and David Smith in Washington
Tuesday 14 February 2017 19.12 GMT First
published on Tuesday 14 February 2017 16.02 GMT
Donald Trump is facing mounting pressure to
explain his ties with Russia after it emerged that he
knew weeks ago his national security adviser had
misled officials about secret communications with
Russian officials but did not fire him.
The retired general Michael Flynn was forced to
quit on Monday night after reports that he could
be vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow.
Democrats demanded an independent
investigation into Flynn‟s phone calls with the
Russian ambassador, what Trump knew about
them and when. A senior Republican promised to
examine the matter “exhaustively”, but others in
the party were reluctant.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, told
reporters how the resignation had happened:
“The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result
of this situation and a series of other questionable
incidents is what led the president to ask Gen
Flynn for his resignation.”
He added: “There‟s nothing that the general did
that was a violation of any sort. What this came
down to was a matter of trust.”
Flynn stepped down after just 24 days when it
emerged that he had discussed sanctions with the
Russian ambassador to Washington before Trump
took office, then misled Vice-President Mike Pence
and others about the conversations. FBI agents
interviewed Flynn soon after the inauguration, the
New York Times reported.
Mike Flynn might be
done – but Trump's
nightmare has just begun White House officials were reeling from the
scandal less than a month after Trump became
president amid reports of disarray and
dysfunction. They also faced questions over why
they had not acted more than two weeks ago
when first warned by the Department of Justice
that the retired general might be vulnerable to
Russian blackmail.
Spicer claimed that Trump was first made aware
that Flynn had potentially misled the vice-
president on 26 January and that the White House
legal counsel, Donald McGahn, had been
investigating the situation since in what Spicer
called “a very deliberative process”, determining
within several days that Flynn had not broken the
law. Until 13 February, Flynn continued to have
access to top-level information.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader,
called for an investigation into the “potential
criminal violations” surrounding the
communications between Flynn and Russia. “The
White House knew for weeks that Gen Flynn misled
the vice-president and that his discussion about
sanctions with the Russian government could
potentially compromise our national security
because he was subject to blackmail,” Schumer
said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“And yet they let him stay on for weeks present at
– and participating in – the highest level of
national security discussions until those reports
were made public.”
Spicer flatly denied that Trump had asked Flynn to
bring up the issue of sanctions in his conversations
with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Asked whether
the president had been aware that Flynn might
have planned to discuss sanctions with the Russian
envoy, the press secretary replied: “No, absolutely
not.”
Spicer, in contradiction to statements made by
the senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway
earlier on Tuesday, insisted that Trump had asked
for Flynn‟s resignation and that it was not the
national security adviser‟s decision. “The level of
trust between the president and Gen Flynn had
eroded that it had to make a change.”
In contrast, Conway said on NBC‟s Today show on
Tuesday morning: “Mike Flynn had decided it was
best to resign. He knew he had become a
lightning rod and he made that decision.”
Intelligence agencies concluded that Russian
computer hackers interfered in last year‟s
presidential election with the intention of hurting
Hillary Clinton, and therefore helping Trump. The
US president has repeatedly declined to criticise
the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Spicer insisted that Trump had been “incredibly
tough” on Russia. However, he only pointed to
comments made by the UN ambassador, Nikki
Haley, to back up that assertion. The press
secretary, as well as the newly confirmed treasury
secretary, Steven Mnuchin, did not go into detail
about whether the sanctions discussed by Flynn,
which were imposed after Russia was determined
to have hacked during the 2016 election, would
be lifted. “The existing policies are in place,” said
Mnuchin.
Spicer declined to say whether the White House
would cooperate with a congressional inquiry.
Earlier Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader,
had called for a wide-ranging investigation. “The
truth and consequences of the Russia connection:
the American people deserve to know the full
extent of Russia‟s financial, personal and political
grip on President Trump and what that means for
our national security,” she said.
“Flynn‟s resignation is a reflection of the poor
judgment of President Trump and demands
answers to the grave questions over the
president‟s involvement. By what authority did
Flynn act and to whom did he report?”
The Democratic demand for an inquiry threw
down the gauntlet to Republicans, who control
the House and Senate but have an often difficult
relationship with Trump.
Roy Blunt, a Republican member of the Senate
intelligence committee, pledged to investigate
the Flynn issue “exhaustively”.
“I think everybody needs that investigation to
happen,” Blunt, a senator from Missouri, said on
Tuesday in a local radio interview. “And the
Senate intelligence committee … has been given
the principal responsibility to look into this, and I
think that we should look into it exhaustively so
that at the end of this process, nobody wonders
whether there was a stone left unturned, and
shouldn‟t reach conclusions before you have the
information that you need to have to make those
conclusions.”
Blunt suggested his committee would soon call
upon Flynn to testify before Congress. “I would
think that we should talk to Gen Flynn very soon
and that should answer a lot of questions,” he
said.
“What did he know? What did he do? And is there
any reason to believe that anybody knew that
and didn‟t take the kind of action they should
have taken?”
Donald Trump had 'full
confidence' in Mike
Flynn – hours later he
was gone Fellow Republican John McCain, chairman of the
Senate armed services committee, described it as
a “troubling indication of the dysfunction of the
current national security apparatus” in a complex
global environment.
McCain added: “Gen Flynn‟s resignation also
raises further questions about the Trump
administration‟s intentions toward Putin‟s Russia,
including statements by the president suggesting
moral equivalence between the United States
and Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine,
annexation of Crimea, threats to our Nato allies,
and attempted interference in American
elections.”
The party was split, however, with some playing
the allegations down. Paul Ryan, the House
speaker and most senior Republican on Capitol
Hill, said that Trump had “made the right decision”
in seeking Flynn‟s resignation.
“You cannot have a national security adviser
misleading the vice-president and others,” Ryan
said at a press conference.
“As soon as this person lost the president‟s trust,
the president asked for his resignation … It was the
right thing to do.”
Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the
House oversight committee, said he would not
pursue an investigation into Flynn‟s contacts with
Russia. “That situation is taking care of itself,”
Chaffetz told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I know that
the [House intelligence committee] was looking
into the hacking issue previously, so I think he did
the right thing by stepping out.”
The Republican-led House oversight committee
did, however, investigate Hillary Clinton‟s handling
of the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack even as the
Senate and House intelligence committees
conducted their own inquiries.
Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence
committee and a longtime ally of Flynn, said he
had no plans to investigate his communications
with Russia, adding he was more concerned with
the leaks surrounding the former national security
adviser.
Flynn‟s departure deepened concerns over a
chaotic start for the Trump White House and the
national security council (NSC) in particular, as
well as allegations of ties with Russia that continue
to haunt the president.
The Democratic congressmen John Conyers Jr of
Michigan and Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the
ranking members of the judiciary and oversight
committees, called for a classified briefing for
Congress regarding Flynn‟s actions.
“We were shocked and dismayed to learn this
evening of reports that three weeks ago, US law
enforcement officials warned the White House
counsel that Gen Flynn had provided false
information to the public about his
communications with the Russian government, but
that the Trump administration apparently did
nothing about it,” the two said in a statement.
'The real consequences
of fake news': Clinton
reacts to Flynn's
resignation Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security
adviser to Barack Obama, drew attention to the
resignation last year of Trump‟s campaign
chairman, Paul Manafort, who also had links to
Russia. He tweeted: “When campaign chairman
and NSA both resign over Russia ties there is more.
Manafort and Flynn had nothing in common
except Russia and Trump.”
Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Senate
foreign relations committee, described Russia‟s
election meddling as “a political Pearl Harbor”
and said he had filed a bill to set up a 9/11-style
commission to investigate it.
Trump named retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg as the
acting national security adviser. Kellogg had
previously been appointed the NSC chief of staff
and advised Trump during the campaign. Trump is
also reportedly considering the former CIA director
David Petraeus and Vice Adm Robert Harward, a
navy Seal, for the post.
The Kremlin had confirmed that Flynn was in
contact with Kislyak but denied that they talked
about lifting sanctions. On Tuesday, Konstantin
Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs
committee in the upper chamber of the Russian
parliament, said in a post on Facebook that firing
a national security adviser for his contacts with
Russia is “not just paranoia but something even
worse”.
Kosachev also expressed frustration at the Trump
administration: “Either Trump hasn‟t found the
necessary independence and he‟s been driven
into a corner … or Russophobia has permeated
the new administration from top to bottom.”
The president broke his silence with a tweet that
attempted to deflect attention: “The real story
here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming
out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening
as I deal on N.Korea etc?”
Flynn was often an angry, outspoken warmup act
for Trump at his election campaign rallies. At last
year‟s Republican national convention in
Cleveland, he encouraged members to chant
“Lock her up!”, in reference to Hillary Clinton.
This article was amended on 14 February to
accurately reflect Roy Blunt‟s role on the
Senate intelligence committee.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/14/democrats-russia-trump-investigation-
michael-flynn