Flynn resigns as national security adviser
Michael Flynn resigned as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Monday night, amid a growing scandal over his contacts with Russian officials.
The White House announced the resignation after days of uncertainty about Flynn’s fate following reports that he’d obfuscated the details of his conversations with Russian officials to Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials.
Trump administration officials, including chief White House counsel Don McGahn, were briefed last month on Flynn’s apparent misstatements about his discussions with the Russians. Acting Attorney General Sally Yates was dismissed a few days later — after refusing to enforce Trump’s travel ban executive order — but a source familiar with the situation said her briefing on Flynn did not appear to play a role in her firing.
The Washington Post was the first to report Yates’ briefing Monday. The White House announced Flynn’s resignation shortly afterward.
“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,” Flynn wrote in his resignation letter.
“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,” Flynn added.
Keith Kellogg, the National Security Council chief of staff, will step in as the acting national security adviser and head of the National Security Council. Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who has known Kellogg for decades, said early Tuesday that he is a “good man” who was among the earliest Trump loyalists.
The White House has already begun canvassing for Flynn’s permanent replacement. Retired Gen. David Petraeus is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the plans.
Vice Adm. Robert Harward and Kellogg are also under consideration, according to a senior White House official. However, a White House spokeswoman declined to respond to questions from POLITICO about the search for potential Flynn successors.
Flynn, a retired three-star general who was forced out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, was one of the first and most decorated military officers to back Trump and became a fixture on the stump during the presidential campaign. During the Republican National Convention, he gave a speech slamming Hillary Clinton and even encouraged chants of “lock her up” from the crowd.
Trump hasn’t addressed questions about Flynn since Friday, when he told reporters on board Air Force One that he would “look into” reports that Flynn lied about improperly discussing sanctions imposed on Russia by the Obama administration with Russia’s ambassador before Trump’s inauguration.
Flynn, long a controversial figure in the national security establishment, was widely disliked by Trump’s more establishment aides, who said he fueled Trump’s conspiracy theories and distrust of the intelligence community. But he had maintained Trump’s support, as the president believed he was loyal and had insight into military affairs. He was also particularly close to Steve Bannon, the president’s top strategist and a philosophical and strategic adviser with a vast sway on the presidency.
Over the weekend, Bannon pulled Flynn aside for a conversation, according to a White House official. Bannon, who had supported Flynn amid turmoil, told him he should “do the right thing” and resign, this official said.
It would have broken longstanding precedent, and possibly the law, for Flynn to have discussed the sanctions with the Kremlin before the inauguration, when he was still a private citizen. Flynn had acknowledged speaking to Russia’s ambassador in that time but denied that the sanctions came up, and Vice President Mike Pence went on television to back him up.
Questions about Flynn’s status were met with conflicting responses by White House officials earlier Monday. “The president is evaluating the situation,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Monday evening. “He’s getting input, he’s looking at the situation.”
Earlier in the day, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway sent a different message in a television appearance. “Gen. Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president,” Conway told MSNBC.
Flynn spent the weekend with Trump in Florida at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort and was part of the delegation welcoming Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House on Monday.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the House oversight committee delivered a letter Monday night to committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) asking for an investigation into Flynn and his ties to Russia.
With Flynn gone, attention immediately focused on who would be appointed to replace him. For the moment, the job was in the hands of the 72-year-old Kellogg. The former general, a combat veteran of Vietnam and later a leading figure in the transition government of Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, had been appointed in December to his NSC position.
The most notable name in the mix was that of Petraeus, who was briefly considered for secretary of state during the transition but was passed over in part because of his 2015 conviction for mishandling classified information.
Trump has long admired Petraeus and sought his counsel. “Trump likes him, he respects him,” said a person close to Trump.
Petraeus did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Earlier Monday, sources close to the White House said Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner was involved with the search, though a senior White House official disputed that. At that time, other names mentioned as possible replacements included Stephen Hadley, who served as national security adviser under President George W. Bush; Tom Bossert, who also served as a national security aide under Bush and now oversees cybersecurity under Trump; Adm. James Stavridis, dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts; and Department of Homeland Security head John Kelly.
Hadley, who served in previous Republican administrations, also did not respond to a request for comment. During the campaign, he declined to sign letters issued by mainstream Republicans criticizing Trump’s most provocative stances. He said at the time that he felt that should Trump win it would be advisable that he feel comfortable turning to experienced members of the party’s foreign policy establishment for advice.
Stavridis, a former commander of NATO, emailed POLITICO that he has not heard anything from the White House. “All quiet in my nets,” the retired admiral said.
Bryan Bender and Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.