The White House is trying to spin their not firing National Security Adviser Michael Flynn after acting Attorney General Sally Yates reported to them that Flynn was compromised by his contacts with Russia. The White House story Tuesday is that they didn’t trust Yates because she was a political opponent and she opposed Trump’s Muslim ban. And never mind that Yates served under both Democratic and Republican presidents, and never mind that she didn’t find out about the Muslim ban until long after she had reported on Flynn, and never mind that the ban itself wasn’t even announced until long after she had reported on Flynn. And certainly never mind the evidence that Yates presented to the White House.
The White House story also has been that Flynn lied to Mike Pence, who was only the transition chair and whose job was only to vet people who would be serving in the most sensitive jobs of a presidential administration. There was plenty of evidence about Flynn long before Yates’s briefings, indeed Flynn’s questionable relationships had been in the news for a year, even as Flynn was one of the most omnipresent Trump supporters, frequently at Trump’s side during the campaign. But Pence cleared him. And the White House also has blamed President Obama, whom they say originally vetted Flynn, and never mind that Obama also fired Flynn, and then explicitly and personally warned Trump about Flynn. But it’s even worse.
The real story is that the White House didn’t fire Flynn until the Washington Post and other news organizations broke the stories about Flynn lying to Pence. That created a public backlash. Trump surrogates such as KellyAnne Conway initially responded by saying Flynn’s job was safe, and only when the backlash proved Flynn’s position was untenable did Flynn get fired, with Trump praising him and criticizing the media as Flynn left.
The White House didn’t care that Flynn was compromised. That was why they ignored Yates’s warning, why Trump ignored Obama’s warning, and only fired Flynn once the media made Flynn’s being compromised by the Russians a big story. That’s why Trump continues to lash out at the media. That’s why Republican senators only seem to care about the sources of those media reports about the Trump national security adviser being compromised by the Russians rather than the fact that the Trump national security adviser was compromised by the Russians.
Let me repeat that.
The White House didn’t care that Trump’s national security adviser was compromised by the Russians.
Congressional Republicans don’t care that Trump’s national security adviser was compromised by the Russians.