On Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer emph
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Posted On: 02/15/2017 7:32:11 PM
On Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer emphasized that Trump asked Flynn to resign because he could no longer be trusted, particularly after misleading Pence about discussing with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak sanctions put in place by the Obama administration.
“The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for General Flynn’s resignation,” Spicer said during his press briefing.
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Spicer told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he didn’t see a need to “square” his earlier comments with the president’s praise of Flynn of earlier in the day.
“The president is very clear that Gen. Flynn has served this country, both in uniform and here, with distinction,” he said. “There’s a clear difference between his commitment to caring about this country and the trust the president had to execute those jobs.”
Trump’s comments at the news conference followed a blitz of angry tweets Wednesday morning over Flynn’s departure and what Trump said were leaks from intelligence agencies.
The direct slam against the leaks suggested deepening struggles within the Trump White House as it faces growing questions — and possible congressional probes — about how and when the president and other top officials dealt with the disclosures that Flynn conducted private outreach with Russia’s ambassador before Trump took office. Intercepts showed that Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions in a phone call with the ambassador — a conversation topic that Flynn first denied and then later said he could not recall.
Spicer: Trump 'has been very tough on Russia' Play Video3:09
At the start of the daily White House briefing, Feb. 14, press secretary Sean Spicer spoke about the resignation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. (Reuters)
Trump’s ire over the insider tips to journalists also contrasted with his indirect praise of the disclosure of leaked internal emails from the Clinton campaign made public by WikiLeaks during the lead-up to the election.
Trump tried to brush off the mounting pressures on his administration as a diversion by opponents, even though senior Republican lawmakers have indicated that investigations into Russian contacts will be expanded. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said it was “highly likely” that the events leading to Flynn’s departure would be added to a broader probe into alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
“This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
The president was referring to recent stories by the New York Times and The Washington Post. Both outlined questionable — and potentially illegal — contact between his aides and Russia.
An article posted by the New York Times late Tuesday reported that members of his presidential campaign team, as well as other Trump associates, were repeatedly in contact with senior Russian intelligence officials during the campaign. And several articles by The Post reported that Flynn had misled administration officials, including Pence, about his discussions with the Russian ambassador to the United States over sanctions before Trump was sworn in.
“Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?). Just like Russia,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
Wednesday was not the first time he had blamed the media and the intelligence community for an unflattering portrait. Shortly before his inauguration last month, amid reports by CNN that Russia may have compiled a dossier of compromising material on him, Trump criticized leaks from the intelligence community, asking on Twitter, “Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
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But he did have praise for one reporter — Eli Lake, an opinion writer for Bloomberg News — who in a column Tuesday said that Flynn was a victim of a “political assassination.” The column was not particularly flattering to Trump, but it criticized the push for Flynn’s ouster, with Lake writing that Flynn was “thrown under the bus” for his ties to Russia and for becoming “a fierce critic of the intelligence community leaders he once served with when he was the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama.”
“Thank you to Eli Lake of The Bloomberg View — ‘The NSA & FBI … should not interfere in our politics … and is’ Very serious situation for USA,” Trump tweeted.
Philip Rucker and Brian Murphy contributed to this report.
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Ashley Parker is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2017, after 11 years at The New York Times, where she covered the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns and Congress, among other things. Follow @ashleyrparker
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“The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for General Flynn’s resignation,” Spicer said during his press briefing.
See what President Trump has been doing since taking office
View Photos The new president is expected to make his mark on an aggressive legislative agenda.
Spicer told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he didn’t see a need to “square” his earlier comments with the president’s praise of Flynn of earlier in the day.
“The president is very clear that Gen. Flynn has served this country, both in uniform and here, with distinction,” he said. “There’s a clear difference between his commitment to caring about this country and the trust the president had to execute those jobs.”
Trump’s comments at the news conference followed a blitz of angry tweets Wednesday morning over Flynn’s departure and what Trump said were leaks from intelligence agencies.
The direct slam against the leaks suggested deepening struggles within the Trump White House as it faces growing questions — and possible congressional probes — about how and when the president and other top officials dealt with the disclosures that Flynn conducted private outreach with Russia’s ambassador before Trump took office. Intercepts showed that Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions in a phone call with the ambassador — a conversation topic that Flynn first denied and then later said he could not recall.
Spicer: Trump 'has been very tough on Russia' Play Video3:09
At the start of the daily White House briefing, Feb. 14, press secretary Sean Spicer spoke about the resignation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. (Reuters)
Trump’s ire over the insider tips to journalists also contrasted with his indirect praise of the disclosure of leaked internal emails from the Clinton campaign made public by WikiLeaks during the lead-up to the election.
Trump tried to brush off the mounting pressures on his administration as a diversion by opponents, even though senior Republican lawmakers have indicated that investigations into Russian contacts will be expanded. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said it was “highly likely” that the events leading to Flynn’s departure would be added to a broader probe into alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
“This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
The president was referring to recent stories by the New York Times and The Washington Post. Both outlined questionable — and potentially illegal — contact between his aides and Russia.
An article posted by the New York Times late Tuesday reported that members of his presidential campaign team, as well as other Trump associates, were repeatedly in contact with senior Russian intelligence officials during the campaign. And several articles by The Post reported that Flynn had misled administration officials, including Pence, about his discussions with the Russian ambassador to the United States over sanctions before Trump was sworn in.
“Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?). Just like Russia,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
Wednesday was not the first time he had blamed the media and the intelligence community for an unflattering portrait. Shortly before his inauguration last month, amid reports by CNN that Russia may have compiled a dossier of compromising material on him, Trump criticized leaks from the intelligence community, asking on Twitter, “Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
The Daily 202 newsletter
A must-read morning briefing for decision-makers.
Sign up
But he did have praise for one reporter — Eli Lake, an opinion writer for Bloomberg News — who in a column Tuesday said that Flynn was a victim of a “political assassination.” The column was not particularly flattering to Trump, but it criticized the push for Flynn’s ouster, with Lake writing that Flynn was “thrown under the bus” for his ties to Russia and for becoming “a fierce critic of the intelligence community leaders he once served with when he was the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama.”
“Thank you to Eli Lake of The Bloomberg View — ‘The NSA & FBI … should not interfere in our politics … and is’ Very serious situation for USA,” Trump tweeted.
Philip Rucker and Brian Murphy contributed to this report.
4.5k Comments
Share on FacebookShare Share on TwitterTweet Share via Email
Ashley Parker is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2017, after 11 years at The New York Times, where she covered the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns and Congress, among other things. Follow @ashleyrparker
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Unlimited Access to The Post. Just 99¢
The Daily 202 newsletter
A must-read morning briefing for decision-makers.
Our Online Games
Play right from this page
Mahjongg Dimensions
Strategy game
Spider Solitaire
Card game
Mahjongg Candy
Strategy game
Word Wipe
Word game
washingtonpost.com
© 1996-2017 The Washington Post
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