The Media Raises Questions About the President's Delay in Terminating Flynn

¶After Flynn was forced to resign, the press raised questions about why the President waited more than two weeks after the DOJ notification to remove Flynn and whether the President had known about Flynn's contacts with Kislyak before the DOJ notification.²⁴⁴²⁴⁴ See, e.g., Sean Spicer, White House Daily Briefing, C-SPAN (Feb. 14, 2017) (questions from the press included, "if [the President] was notified 17 days ago that Flynn had misled the Vice President, other officials here, and that he was a potential threat to blackmail by the Russians, why would he be kept on for almost three weeks?" and "Did the President instruct [Flynn] to talk about sanctions with the [Russian ambassador]?"). Priebus recalled that the President initially equivocated on whether to fire Flynn because it would generate negative press to lose his National Security Advisor so early in his term. Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 8.Show full note The press also continued to raise questions about connections between Russia and the President's campaign.²⁴⁵²⁴⁵ E.g., Sean Sullivan et al., Senators from both parties pledge to deepen probe of Russia and the 2016 election, Washington Post (Feb. 14, 2017); Aaron Blake, 5 times Donald Trump's team denied contact with Russia, Washington Post (Feb. 15, 2017); Oren Dorell, Donald Trump's ties to Russia go back 30 years, USA Today (Feb. 15, 2017); Pamela Brown et al., Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign, CNN (Feb. 15, 2017); Austin Wright, Comey briefs senators amid furor over Trump-Russia ties, Politico (Feb. 17, 2017); Megan Twohey & Scott Shane, A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates, New York Times (Feb. 19, 2017).Show full note On February 15, 2017, the President told reporters, "General Flynn is a wonderful man. I think he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media."²⁴⁶²⁴⁶ Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel in Joint Press Conference, White House (Feb. 15, 2017). On February 16, 2017, the President held a press conference and said that he removed Flynn because Flynn "didn't tell the Vice President of the United States the facts, and then he didn't remember. And that just wasn't acceptable to me."²⁴⁷²⁴⁷ Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference, White House (Feb. 16, 2017). The President said he did not direct Flynn to discuss sanctions with Kislyak, but "it certainly would have been okay with me if he did. I would have directed him to do it if I thought he wasn't doing it. I didn't direct him, but I would have directed him because that's his job."²⁴⁸²⁴⁸ Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference, White House (Feb. 16, 2017). The President also said that Flynn's conduct "wasn't wrong – what he did in terms of the information he saw." The President said that Flynn was just "doing the job," and "if anything, he did something right." In listing the reasons for terminating Flynn, the President did not say that Flynn had lied to him.²⁴⁹²⁴⁹ Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference, White House (Feb. 16, 2017); Priebus 1/18/18 302, at 9. The President also denied having any connection to Russia, stating, "I have nothing to do with Russia. I told you, I have no deals there. I have no anything."²⁵⁰²⁵⁰ Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference, White House (Feb. 16, 2017). The President also said he "had nothing to do with" WikiLeaks's publication of information hacked from the Clinton campaign.²⁵¹²⁵¹ Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference, White House (Feb. 16, 2017).