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