White House National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn has resigned after controversy surrounding his communications with Russia. Here is the full text of Flynn’s resignation letter, bolding is mine:
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.
Throughout my over thirty three years of honorable military service, and my tenure as the National Security Advisor, I have always performed my duties with the utmost of integrity and honesty to those I have served, to include the President of the United States.
I am tendering my resignation, honored to have served our nation and the American people in such a distinguished way.
I am also extremely honored to have served President Trump, who in just three weeks, has reoriented American foreign policy in fundamental ways to restore America’s leadership position in the world.
As I step away once again from serving my nation in this current capacity, I wish to thank President Trump for his personal loyalty, the friendship of those who I worked with throughout the hard fought campaign, the challenging period of transition, and during the early days of his presidency.
I know with the strong leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and the superb team they are assembling, this team will go down in history as one of the greatest presidencies in U.S. history, and I firmly believe the American people will be well served as they all work together to help Make America Great Again.
Michael T. Flynn, LTG (Ret)
Assistant to the President / National Security Advisor
President Trump has named Retired Lt. General Joseph Keith Kellogg, Jr. as Acting National Security Advisor. Kellogg previously served as Flynn’s chief of staff. KT McFarland will remain as Deputy National Security Advisor.
Things inside the Oval Office boiled over Monday as allegations Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the content of a phone call with the Russian ambassador in December became increasingly backed up with evidence. During the phone call Flynn reportedly discussed sanctions relief, something he denied discussing and then later said he didn’t recall. He gave knowingly bad information to Vice President Pence, who then inadvertently passed false information to the American people through public channels. Further, news surfaced the Department of Justice warned the White House about Flynn being ripe for Russian blackmail after receiving information from the intelligence community. From The Washington Post:
The acting attorney general informed the Trump White House late last month that she believed Michael Flynn had misled senior administration officials about the nature of his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States, and warned that the national security adviser was potentially vulnerable to Russian blackmail, current and former U.S. officials said.
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.
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.
Earlier today, reporters were told by White House Special Counselor Kellyanne Conway President Trump had full confidence in Flynn. Less than an hour later, Press Secretary Sean Spicer contradicted her statement by saying the President was “evaluating the situation.”
