National Security Advisor Michael Flynn Resigns
Turns out he did discuss sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador.
President Donald Trump’s national security advisor Michael Flynn has resigned after he came under fire over his contacts with Russian officials.
The resignation comes after the Justice Department announced that officials had “warned the Trump administration last month that Flynn misled administration officials regarding his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians.”
Flynn wrote an extensive resignation letter:
In the course of my duties as the incoming National Security Advisor, I held numerous phone calls with foreign counterparts, ministers, and ambassadors. These calls were to facilitate a smooth transition and begin to build the necessary relationships between the President, his advisors and foreign leaders. Such calls are standard practice in any transition of this magnitude.
Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology.
Reports emerged earlier this morning that Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about talks he had with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about sanctions former President Barack Obama passed against Russia due to interference with our election.
Pence went on Sunday talk shows to defend Flynn and insisted the advisor never spoke with the ambassador about the sanctions:
“General Flynn has been in touch with diplomatic leaders, security leaders in some 30 countries,” he said. “That’s exactly what the incoming national security adviser should do.”
“But what I can confirm, having spoken to him about it, is that those conversations that happened to occur around the time that the United States took action to expel diplomats had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions.”
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Comments
I am more concerned with the government leakers trying to take Trump out.
Yes, like those criminal Obama appointees who believe in a dictatorship…….
Not pleased with this. Now the left will never stop, never.
Kelly Ann was just on TV talking about Trump having 100% confidence in Flynn… this is too much 3 ring circus for me.
Remember how we (conservatives, not trying to include you in my ‘we’, gonzotx) despised Obama for his ‘100% confidence’ in Susan Rice. ‘Circus’ or no, I’m not upset that Trump let someone who should resign, resign.
Rice stayed.
Exactly, Rice stayed and they doubled down.
Sticking too long with someone was a mistake with GWB made a few times too many, too. I think he did it out of a misguided sense of personal loyalty, but it was still damaging to him. The name that comes immediately to mind was “Brownie” at FEMA in the aftermath of Katrina, and there was also Harriet Miers, his Supreme Court appointee that everyone rolled their eyes at.
The writing was on the wall for Flynn when Pompeo and the CIA denied a security clearance to one of Flynn’s top guys a couple days ago. Once that happened it was clear that one of those two men was going to have to go.
Remember that what doomed Brownie was the press conference where he said his sources were not reporting any crime in the Superdome and all he knew about the chaos there was from TV reports. Of course it turned out that the reason his sources weren’t reporting anything was because nothing was happening, and the news media were making the whole thing up. There were no murders, no rapes, no shooting at rescue workers, but all these things were on TV so if Brownie didn’t know about them he must have been incompetent and had to go.
There apparently is not a phone in the nation anyone can use that isn’t being monitored
If you call someone with a tapped line, your phone call is going to be recorded. Calling a Russian ambassador, or officials at the Russian embassy that are spies working under diplomatic cover, is a high percentage way to have your call recorded. …Of course, that just makes it disturbing that this is being openly discussed in the newspapers. These recordings were made for purposes of national security.
Well, as much as I hate to see anything happen that pleases Pelosi, they have their first (and hopefully last) scalp.
Nonetheless, if the reports are true, and his resignation certainly supports their veracity, he is a dishonorable, untrustworthy man and should be gone. An honorable man would 1) not have lied to his superiors and 2) would have resigned as soon as he realized or was told what he had done was wrong. He also should have been smarter in the first place.
Ain’t gonna lose any sleep over it, but you just watch the victory dance over the next two days.
I would worry about the dance too much. All Trump has to do is tweet out something about something and the press will go nonstop for a week trying to disprove it.
Do I need to point out that Flynn has NEVER said that he discussed the sanctions with the Russian ambassador? Much less that he specifically discussed lifting the sanctions? And he certainly doesn’t state that in his resignation letter.
If the allegations were false, I believe he’d still have his job. That his resignation was ‘lawyered’ is a given.
They did the right thing. What more can you ask? Would that have resulted under Obama?
The Administration is filled with very competent novices. They will learn the ropes. The world is not going to end. The incoming will be relentless. But people are attuned and Democrats further distance themselves from what people care about.
It seems odd that three weeks in so many have concluded they must play the zero sum game when it comes to President Trump and what his effect will be.
Let’s see, Susan Rice vs General Flynn… no, not a stretch at all
It seems clear that Gen Flynn misled both the VP and the President. For that, one must resign.
It’s just a momentary setback. A mistake by the general.
They bagged their first scalp. Emboldened they proceed against the rest of the Trump team until they bag the ultimate prize … Trump’s impeachment.
The incoming head of the NSC should be confident his phone is not tapped by the outgoing administration for leakage to the Washington Post. Withholding details of his call is commonly known as providing plausible deniability.
Leaking Flynn’s calls, Trumps head of state calls, etc. is treasonous, subversive, and felonious. I am more concerned with the leaks and damage to the ability of world leaders to speak openly with their counterparts in the administration than i am that Flynn protected the Pres & VP from the scalp hunters.
Time for the Trump administration to switch to Apple phones.
Better now than later.
Trump should respond with indictments of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, Al Sharpton, Lois Lerner, et al.
That would keep the corrupt media busy for a while.
Why was General Flynn’s phone tapped? Under what order? Who leaked the intel to the WAPO? It is admitted that Flynn broke no law. Only partisan Donks and Never-trumper GOP are mentioning the “Logan Act” which has never been pressed against anyone. This is Watergate all over again. The Donks and the press are playing their playbook. I wish Flynn had stayed, but no doubt this will pass and the press and leakers will move to the next target(s).
First, apology for my butterfingers, I didn’t mean to downvote, I was trying to hit “Reply”. Second, according to the last set of sources, Flynn’s phone wasn’t tapped, the Russian ambassador’s phone was tapped – by the FBI, not the NSA. NSA handles foreign intelligence, FBI handles domestic counter-intelligence. Therefore, it is believable that the FBI tapped the Russian ambassador’s phone. We don’t need Snowden revelations for this; it’s standard procedure going back many decades. You’d think the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency would be well aware of such basic facts in advance of calling the Russian ambassador on that tapped line.
The same sources say it was Sally Yates, briefly famous Deputy Attorney General, who pushed the blackmail/ Logan Act side. The only blackmail I see possible is of Trump because his team was wittingly or unwittingly misled into making public denials that didn’t jive with Flynn’s talks with the Russian ambassador. That source of blackmail is now gone. I expect Maxine Waters to mourn.
Flynn’s scalp versus the Russians know for certain that the FBI was/is tapping the Russian ambassador’s phone. Hmm.
Scalp V International incident.
Don’t be silly. The Russians already knew that, and take it as a matter of course. They would assume that line to be tapped even if it wasn’t.
The world revolves around countries being able to maintain the illusion of diplomatic courtesy. Announcing the tapping to the world shatters this.
No, Milhouse is correct.
Of course the Russians know the line is monitored. As did Flynn.
Two issues, Flynn misleading the VP and President, and the FBI/Justice leaking the conversation to the WPost. Of the two, the latter is far worse.
The blackmail was committed by those people in the intelligence community who released the information about the fact that Flynn had a conversation with the Russian ambassador and the content of those calls.
Releasing national security information, without proper authorization, is a criminal felony. Just ask Snowden, et al about that. Maybe it is time that people start going to jail for violating the law.
Flynn was an unnecessary mis-step. But he is resigning because of his mistake. I have no doubt that the whole admin would have dug in if he was clean. He lied.
It’s not the act, it’s the cover-up – although this was minor compared to the Obama administrations many offenses and cover-ups.
But you don’t lie to the prez and the vp. They are on your team. And unfortunately he is in national security – you have to know anything could be recorded when talking to a senior Russian. Dumb. I don’t feel bad for Flynn but I hate that it causes a minor stumble for Trump.
But move on quickly, Learn from it, and be prepared for the leakers and saboteurs inside the government. Trump will cut the bureaucracy down in size before this is over.
THIS is why Trump and every member of his team HAS to be on top of their game 110% of the time…AND MORE!
The media is out to sink Trump and co at every turn possible! The media is NOT there to report the truth BUT to report THEIR truth (or the alt truth if you will) and this pointless, needless mess just plays right in to their hands!
Flynn should have stayed. He lied? Whatever. He discussed sanctions with Russia? I EXPECTED him to.
This is another lynching by Unreasonable Standards that is imposed on the right.
Flynn should have stayed.
He lied to Pence and Trump, and thus caused them to tell falsehoods and to be embarrassed when the truth came out. That’s a big deal. You don’t embarrass your boss.
What’s most disturbing here is not so much that Flynn’s lack of political savvy became apparent so early in the game, but that Flynn chose to retire from the game so easily. I can certainly understand never wanting to engage in the savagery of political combat in DC, but c’mon dude, you already accepted the job. First sign of heat you grab your kit and head home?
I think did the honorable thing by taking responsibility for a choice that was made for him. As I wrote elsewhere, the handwriting was on the wall for Flynn when his top aide was denied a security clearance by Pompeo and the CIA. Once that level of animosity had been revealed to the public, one of those two men, Flynn or Pompeo, had to go.
I find it even more interesting that Pence is apparently in charge of the effort to replace Flynn. I always though that Pence was an extremely good pick for Veep by Trump, and he wasn’t talked about much because none of Trump’s enemies could ever find much to criticize about him. (so they tried to ignore him) I think the fact that Pence is gaining a lot of credibility and authority in this new administration is an incredibly good thing.
I don’t question Flynn’s honor, but I sure question his commitment. Trump has surrounded himself with apolitical, honorable people that simply can’t be allowed to tender resignations every time a transgression occurs. Call it honorable withdrawal if you like, but Flynn left the fight way too quick.
I question his honor. Dishonored himself and his boss by lying to him and his VP to their faces.
Shouldn’t negate an otherwise honorable career (far as we know), but he most certainly behaved dishonorably here.
Flynn lied to the VP and president? Who hired this guy?
The telephone call Flynn made was
Intercepted by (FBI or NSA?) And then very conveniently leaked to the Trump hating media? Why did he lie about his conversation?
The really weird thing about this is Flynn was the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. This agency is the NSA for the military. Won’t he know the phone call to the Russian ambassador would be intercepted?
Just a truly bizarre event.
Have to laugh. One of my business partners is a flaming liberal/progressive (a 1%er, of course). Wore all black to work on January 20th, you get the idea. Rolls in this morning, when asked how he’s doing responds, “Fantastic. One domino down.”
And of course, this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/donald-trump-administration-michael-flynn-resignation.html
They’re nothing if not predictable.
Here is the Flynn situation in a nutshell. Politics.
There are multiple streams of politics swirling around the current6 POTUS. You have partisan politics from the Dems. You have political attacks from the Establishment. Then you have the internal politics of the Trump administration. Flynn fell victim to all three.
First, the Establishment blackmailed the POTUS by releasing information, classified information, that Flynn had engaged in a conversation with the Russian Ambassador during which the subject of the sanctions against Russia came up. And, the incoming administration was smart in urging the Russian to wait until after the inauguration before taking any action. See, there was no immediate need for any actions to be taken against the Russians for anything. If such justification could be shown to exist, then it should have been left for the incoming POTUS to deal with. But, Obama threw a huge hand grenade into American-Soviet relations. It was done mainly to create a situation which Trump would have to clean up. Having taken steps to minimize the damage done by Obama, anti-Trump operatives in the DOJ released the information to embarrass Trump. Pense issued a denial and the world turned. But, the anti-Trump forces used the intercepted phone call, the exact content of which is still unknown, to put pressure on Trump; first to cut Flynn loose, then to build the appearance of a Watergate style coverup.
The Dems saw an opportunity to Watergate Trump. Though the situation is entirely different, the Dems and the MSM are busily building this non-case in public. And, they are using the Flynn phone call to justify their attack.
And, finally, there is still a lot of internal politicking going on in the new Trump administration. Flynn wielded a lot of power in the administration and others saw this as an opportunity to eliminate Flynn and advance themselves.
Add to that all the other attacks taking place against the POTUS, at the moment, and this was simply a battle that Trump did not need. So, Flynn stepped down. This does not mean that Flynn has no more influence on Trump. In fact, if the President does not believe that Flynn did anything wrong, sacrificing himself for the POTUS may well increase his stock with the Commander-In-Chief.
When does the statute of limitations run out on Clapper’s perjury to Congress and the American People? Too many stone have been flying out of his glass house.
Apparently this was going on in the background:
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/former-obama-officials-loyalists-waged-campaign-oust-flynn/
Probably wouldn’t have been successful absent Flynn’s fudging.
To bring a little smile to your face, courtesy of the aforementioned Pelosi:
http://michellemalkin.com/2017/02/14/top-house-dems-again-show-off-their-fake-news-spotting-skills/