Trump’s National Security Advisor, a Putin-loving conspiracy theorist who has spent every single day in the White House battling reports that he was selling out the country to Russia, is finished.
In a bombshell announcement, the White House announced that Michael Flynn had resigned. The final nails in his coffins were two equally disturbing reports surfaced at nearly the same time. One said he repeatedly lied about promising Russia that Trump would lift sanctions meant to punish the country for tampering with the American election. The other reported that the Department of Justice warned Trump after the inauguration that there were signs that Flynn was being blackmailed by Russia - which Trump ignored.
The message, delivered by Sally Q. Yates and a senior career national security official to the White House counsel, was prompted by concerns that Flynn, when asked about his calls and texts with the Russian diplomat, had told Vice President-elect Mike Pence and others that he had not discussed the Obama administration sanctions on Russia for its interference in the 2016 election, the officials said. It is unclear what the White House counsel, Donald McGahn, did with the information.
As Trevor Timm points out, this report proves that Trump was not troubled by Flynn working with the Russians - he was angry that Flynn got caught.
If this is true, it means Flynn wasn't forced to resign for lying, he was forced to resign because it leaked to the press he was lying. pic.twitter.com/AqfzgTENRE
— Trevor Timm (@trevortimm) February 14, 2017
Flynn, a man considered too unstable for the Pentagon and forced out in 2014 has become an extremely close friend of Trump’s. Even as evidence continued to pile up regarding Flynn’s creepy involvement with the Russian government, he remained Trump’s right hand man. As of this weekend, he was with Trump in Mar-a-Lago.
Flynn also made Pence look like a moron, which may have been the thing that finally did him in. Pence had gone out on a limb several times to emphatically insist that Flynn had not communicated with the Russians about the sanctions. Now, with proof that he did, Pence is revealed to be either involved and a liar or unaware and oblivious.
The question now is how far does this go? Flynn’s resignation isn’t enough to quell the burning scandal. If Trump or the rest of the White House were complicit in Flynn’s betrayal of the country, that’s presidency-ending. In the fallout of Flynn’s departure, expect more bombshell leaks to be released - Trump is probably freaking out.
Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images
