Trump national security adviser Flynn resigns in controversy over Russian contacts

[webfact]

Trump national security adviser Flynn resigns in controversy over Russian contacts

By Steve Holland and Emily Stephenson

REUTERS

 

FILE PHOTO: National security adviser General Michael Flynn delivers a statement daily briefing at the White House in Washington U.S., February 1, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned late on Monday under scrutiny over whether he discussed the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia before Trump took office.

 

Flynn submitted his resignation hours after Trump said through a spokesman that he was reviewing the situation and talking to Vice President Mike Pence. Flynn had promised Pence he had not discussed sanctions with the Russians but it was later discovered that the subject had come up.

 

"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 apologised to the president and the vice president, and they have accepted my apology," Flynn said in his resignation letter.

 

Retired General Keith Kellogg, who has been chief of staff of the White House National Security Council, was named the acting national security adviser while Trump determines who should fill the position.

 

Retired General David Petraeus, a former CIA director, is under consideration for the position, a White House official said.

 

Flynn's resignation came after it was reported that the Justice Department warned the White House weeks ago that Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail for contacts with Russian officials before Trump took power on Jan. 20.

 

A U.S. official confirmed a Washington Post report that Sally Yates, the then-acting U.S. attorney general, told the White House late last month that she believed Flynn had misled them about the nature of his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

 

She said Flynn might have put himself into a compromising position, possibly leaving himself vulnerable to blackmail, the official said. Yates was later fired for opposing Trump's temporary entry ban for people from seven mostly Muslim nations.

 

Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, was an early supporter of Trump and shares his interest in shaking up the establishment in Washington. He has frequently raised eyebrows among Washington's foreign policy establishment for trying to persuade Trump to warm up U.S. relations with Russia.

 

(Additional reporting by John Walcott; Editing by Peter Cooney, Robert Birsel)

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-14

[KhunBENQ]

That was quick.

Not an hour ago I read that soon it may soon be "you're fired"

OK, so not fired but "resigned"

The report that I read speculated about more clean up.

 

[mtls2005]

When will the Benghazi/email server-like outrage rear it's head on this matter?

 

Trade him to Russia for a player to be named later.

[Alan Deer]

how long has this guy been POTUS and how much slaps and back-peddling has he has to do?

All I can say is that it's a good job he doesn't work in a brewery!

[Jingthing]

Booted by BOTH Obama and trump.

Now that's a real turkey!

 

[JHolmesJr]

Nothing to be alarmed about….he did wrong and now he's gone. Wish you could say the same about certain other presidential also-rans.

[Grouse]

It must be treason surely?

 

Don't tell me you guys don't execute for treason?

Edited February 14, 2017 by Grouse

[craigt3365]

9 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

Nothing to be alarmed about….he did wrong and now he's gone. Wish you could say the same about certain other presidential also-rans.

It's a possibility Pence and Trump knew he lied.  If so, they are both also in hot water.  Hopefully, Trump will get in trouble over his many lies.

[Jingthing]

No tweet yet from trump about this. 

He can't call it "fake news" so maybe he won't ever. 

[geriatrickid]

5 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

It's a possibility Pence and Trump knew he lied.  If so, they are both also in hot water.  Hopefully, Trump will get in trouble over his many lies.

I doubt Pence was aware. In fact, Flynn had mislead Pence, so if anyone should be angry it is Pence. This is the 2nd time he has embarrassed Trump publicly. The first was when he and his son offered malicious lies accusing Mrs. Clinton of being implicated in a pedophile ring. 

 

President Obama terminated Flynn on the recommendation of  senior intelligence and military officials.  Trump gave this ill disciplined nut a second chance and he let his boss down. There was a crisis of confidence at the NSA and his departure  is the first step in fixing the problem.

 

Rather than seeing this as a negative, I see it as a positive: They got rid of a  dangerous dud fast. Time to move on. It's a  warning to any other people in the administration: Screw up and you are gone, fast.

[Fookhaht]

Wow. Life imitates art (term loosely used).

Less than a month from its launch, the Trump administration is already taking on the character of The Apprentice.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[craigt3365]

11 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

I doubt Pence was aware. In fact, Flynn had mislead Pence, so if anyone should be angry it is Pence. This is the 2nd time he has embarrassed Trump publicly. The first was when he and his son offered malicious lies accusing Mrs. Clinton of being implicated in a pedophile ring. 

 

President Obama terminated Flynn on the recommendation of  senior intelligence and military officials.  Trump gave this ill disciplined nut a second chance and he let his boss down. There was a crisis of confidence at the NSA and his departure  is the first step in fixing the problem.

 

Rather than seeing this as a negative, I see it as a positive: They got rid of a  dangerous dud fast. Time to move on. It's a  warning to any other people in the administration: Screw up and you are gone, fast.

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/02/14/white-house-flynn-blackmail-russia-acosta-lemon.cnn/video/playlists/michael-flynn/

 

Quote

 

Source: WH knew Flynn misled officials on Russia

CNN Tonight

A source told CNN's Jim Acosta that the White House was warned that national security adviser Michael Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail by Russia and misled administration officials regarding his communications with the Russian ambassador to the US.

Source: CNN

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Flynn certainly knew exactly what he did and didn't talk with the Russian guy about, and whether sanctions were or were not part of the talks.

 

So how exactly could the "fast pace" of developments, to use his words, ever have led him to subsequently tell Pence a clearly wrong/misleading/lying version of the conversation that Flynn himself previously had?

 

More fun and games from the group I'm beginning to call "the gang that couldn't shoot straight," -- with their botched rollout of the Muslim so-called ban, Conway's fake terrorist attack, Flynn's hijinks, and then also this in the past 24 hours.  The Gang that couldn't Spell Straight???

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/319170-trumps-official-inauguration-poster-has-glaring-typo

 

Just lately, Spicer and Conway had gone before the media to defend Flynn, only to have Trump shortly thereafter tweet and Spicer then have to announce that the situation with Flynn's lying was "under review."  With his resignation now to have shortly followed.

 

Quote

 

Spicer’s comments fueled the uncertainty surrounding Flynn’s position in the Trump White House.  
 

He spoke roughly an hour after senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Flynn has the "full confidence" of the president.
 

Asked to square their remarks, Spicer said his reflected the president’s “most current thinking.”

The spokesman said he had just spoken with Trump in the Oval Office about the situation.

 

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/319322-wh-trump-evaluating-situation-with-flynn

Edited February 14, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[sujoop]

18 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

I doubt Pence was aware. In fact, Flynn had mislead Pence, so if anyone should be angry it is Pence. This is the 2nd time he has embarrassed Trump publicly. The first was when he and his son offered malicious lies accusing Mrs. Clinton of being implicated in a pedophile ring. 

 

President Obama terminated Flynn on the recommendation of  senior intelligence and military officials.  Trump gave this ill disciplined nut a second chance and he let his boss down. There was a crisis of confidence at the NSA and his departure  is the first step in fixing the problem.

 

Rather than seeing this as a negative, I see it as a positive: They got rid of a  dangerous dud fast. Time to move on. It's a  warning to any other people in the administration: Screw up and you are gone, fast.

Nice  spin attempt, might work if it were for an avg Montenegro type PR job but not in the much more intense lights of US scrutiny As pointed out above, the WH was fully aware and did nothing until exposure heated up (by what Trump supporters have labelled the 'fake news' of the Washington Post which turns out to be spot-on factual news). 
 

NO way Flynn treasonously approaches his Russian counterparts telling them basically 'Hey, don't worry about any sanctions buddies'... (comrades some would say...) without higher up direction. This leaves the 1000 lb gorilla in the room/WH still dominating with the ultimate question ala:  So what DOES Putin have on Trump to make him (thus America) his B*tch???

 

[Opl]

1 hour ago, JHolmesJr said:

Nothing to be alarmed about….he did wrong and now he's gone. Wish you could say the same about certain other presidential also-rans.

[Gecko123]

"….inadvertently briefed the vice president-elect and others with incomplete information."  

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

36 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/02/14/white-house-flynn-blackmail-russia-acosta-lemon.cnn/video/playlists/michael-flynn/

 

 

It wasn't just CNN reporting this thru a source. It was much more broadly reported, and had already led to warnings to the White House in late January that Flynn had misled/was lying and could be blackmailed by the Russians over it.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/justice-department-warned-white-house-that-flynn-could-be-vulnerable-to-russian-blackmail-officials-say/ar-AAmU2uq?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout
 

Quote

 

In the waning days of the Obama administration, James R. Clapper Jr., who was the director of national intelligence, and John Brennan, the CIA director at the time, shared Yates’s concerns and concurred with her recommendation to inform the Trump White House.

They feared that “Flynn had put himself in a compromising position” and thought that Pence had a right to know that he had been misled, according to one of the officials, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
 

A senior Trump administration official said that the White House was aware of the matter, adding that “we’ve been working on this for weeks.”

The current and former officials said that although they believed that Pence was misled about the contents of Flynn’s communications with the Russian ambassador, they couldn’t rule out that Flynn was acting with the knowledge of others in the transition.

 

Quote

 

From that call and subsequent intercepts, FBI agents wrote a secret report summarizing ­Flynn’s discussions with Kislyak.

Yates, then the deputy attorney general, considered Flynn’s comments in the intercepted call to be “highly significant” and “potentially illegal,” according to an official familiar with her thinking.

Yates and other intelligence officials suspected that Flynn could be in violation of an obscure U.S. statute known as the Logan Act, which bars U.S. citizens from interfering in diplomatic disputes with another country.

 

 

 

 

[mtls2005]

Trump tweet commending V. Putin for not reacting to Obama's sanctions. This is around the same time Flynn was talking to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

 

Wonder what Trump knew? If anything?

 

 

[zaphod reborn]

Patraeus????  WTH is the SCROTUS thinking?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petraeus_scandal

[mtls2005]

Petraeus does seem like an odd choice. (OK, maybe not for Trump.)

 

I might hire Edward Snowden before this clown.

[craigt3365]

14 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Trump tweet commending V. Putin for not reacting to Obama's sanctions. This is around the same time Flynn was talking to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

 

Wonder what Trump knew? If anything?

 

 

And if proven Trump knew what Flynn said, he's going to be in real hot water.  Time will tell....but sure looks like collusion to me.  Yes, that's speculation...

[pegman]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

It's a possibility Pence and Trump knew he lied.  If so, they are both also in hot water.  Hopefully, Trump will get in trouble over his many lies.

There is a high likelihood that Trump ordered him to give the Russkis that signal. The 2 dummies didn't figure the NSA would be taping it so someone had to take the fall and it wasn't going to be Agent Orange.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

It's a possibility Pence and Trump knew he lied.  If so, they are both also in hot water.  Hopefully, Trump will get in trouble over his many lies.

 

I certainly don't think that he did it off his own back or his own idea.

 

In political speak quote "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. "

 

In common or garden English. I lied and not only that I got caught doing so.

 

It really doesn't say much for Trump's choice of best person for the job. He lasted 25 days from 20th January 2017.

[pegman]

28 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Trump tweet commending V. Putin for not reacting to Obama's sanctions. This is around the same time Flynn was talking to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

 

Wonder what Trump knew? If anything?

 

 

A senate committee needs to put this guy under oath and have him explain under whose authority did he say that the sanctions be watered down.

[sujoop]

1 hour ago, sujoop said:

 As pointed out above, the WH was fully aware and did nothing until exposure heated up (by what Trump supporters have labelled the 'fake news' of the Washington Post which turns out to be spot-on factual news). 
 

NO way Flynn treasonously approaches his Russian counterparts telling them basically 'Hey, don't worry about any sanctions buddies'... (comrades some would say...) without higher up direction. This leaves the 1000 lb gorilla in the room/WH still dominating with the ultimate question ala:  So what DOES Putin have on Trump to make him (thus America) his B*tch???

 

Hasten to add - no matter the daily blunders (plus possible collusive treason), the Republican party/Priebus etc have MUCH more important issues for their ruling class clown to preside over AT ANY COST such as their top 3:
 

-Get RID of Dodd Frank/Volker Rule
(thus 'free up' banks etc to 'do it again' ala Bush meltdown)
-Appoint and attain utter control via Supreme Court DOMINANCE
(no more 'pesky' constitution issues to deal with on the many more executive orders/ram-rod agenda's upcoming)
-Remove 'pesky' environmental rules and regs
(who needs clean water & air when there's big oil & benefactors requiring big pay back?)
 

Meanwhile, as long as Trump feels like HE is calling the shots and is being seen as 'THE big man'/ 'THE player', he's far too egotistical & vain to see he's actually BEING played (along with his dumb and dumber supporters...) God help America...  and look for more 'Flynn's' to fall on the sword/get kicked under the bus as the real agenda in play is far bigger than any 1 player... (Trump included if need be)

 

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by sujoop

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, JHolmesJr said:

Nothing to be alarmed about….he did wrong and now he's gone. Wish you could say the same about certain other presidential also-rans.

You mean Hillary Clinton has just been made President? Wow!  

[Prbkk]

So not a master of the dark arts , merely a stumbling buffoon and now thrown to the wolves at his master's pleasure. Just the first of many.

[ilostmypassword]

Unfortunately, there are still a truckload of loons still working in or with the Trump administration.

http://www.vox.com/world/2017/2/13/14559822/trump-islam-muslims-islamophobia-sharia

[Silurian]

One down and more to go...

 

Both Pence and the fraudulent POTUS knew what Flynn was up to. Flynn was following along like a good puppy since he was probably offered the NSA position beforehand. Now Flynn will play the good soldier and take a bullet for Pence (and the clown POTUS) to try to sweep this whole thing under the rug. At a minimum Pence should resign as well for collusion with Flynn.

 

What will it take for the Republican House and Senate to see the light and boot both Pence and his boss?

 

[JHolmesJr]

47 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Trump tweet commending V. Putin for not reacting to Obama's sanctions. This is around the same time Flynn was talking to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

 

Wonder what Trump knew? If anything?

 

 

 

Trump didnt know nuffin'

 

It was very disingenuous and slimy of obama to levy those sanctions in his last few days in office when it was clear he wasn't going to be around to account for them.

 

It was just done in a desperate bid to scuttle any rapprochement with russia…..the idea was to make trump look like he was doing a special favour to putin if he reviewed the sanctions. And of course to make Mr Trump look bad.

 

Trump should immediately demand the evidence that obama used to make up his mind…and go from there.