trump fired attorney general who warned about flynn

by Johnathon Klein 5 min read

Why did President Trump fire General Flynn?

Former FBI Director James Comey has said that the president asked him to drop the investigation into Flynn the day after Flynn was ousted, on Feb. 14. I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful.

Did Obama warn Trump not to hire Flynn?

Ms. Yates’s testimony, along with a separate revelation Monday that President Barack Obama had warned Mr. Trump not to hire Mr. Flynn, offered a more complete public account of Mr. Flynn’s stunning fall from one of the nation’s most important security posts.

Did Trump ask Comey to drop investigation into Flynn?

Former FBI Director James Comey has said that the president asked him to drop the investigation into Flynn the day after Flynn was ousted, on Feb. 14. I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI.

What did Michael Flynn do wrong?

A document filed with the court by the special counsel says that Flynn "did willfully and knowingly make materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements and representations" to the FBI regarding his interaction with then-Russian Envoy Sergey Kislyak. In early December, after the election, he Kushner met with Kislyak at Trump Tower. On Dec.

image

What is the relationship between Yates and the White House?

The relationship between Yates and the White House is complicated by the circumstances surrounding her firing. In January she instructed the Justice Department not to defend Trump's controversial order limiting travel and immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa.

What happened to Flynn after he resigned?

After Flynn's forced resignation in February, it emerged that Yates privately brought concerns about him to the White House, informing the administration that he may have misled officials about conversations with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak before Trump's inauguration.

Did the FBI know about Flynn?

The FBI and Department of Justice knew about Flynn's conduct, and more important, "the Russians also knew about what Gen. Flynn had done" and that he had misled Pence, Yates said. That created a "compromise situation," in which Flynn "essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians."

How many times did Flynn call Kislyak?

In early December, after the election, he Kushner met with Kislyak at Trump Tower. On Dec. 29, Flynn called Kislyak five times, and the two spoke about sanctions against Russia that had just been imposed by President Obama in response to Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Why did Trump fire Flynn?

Trump says he fired Flynn because he lied to Pence, FBI, insists there's "nothing to hide". President Trump spoke publicly Saturday morning for the first time since his former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI on Friday, saying he "had to fire" Flynn because he lied to Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI.

Who did Flynn mislead?

Flynn misled Pence about his contact with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and later, lied to the FBI about that contact in a Jan. 24 interview, as he pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday.

Who directed Flynn to contact Russia?

According to court documents released Friday, a "very senior member" of the Trump transition team -- Kushner -- directed Flynn to contact Russia and officials from other foreign governments in December 2016 to determine where they stood on an Israeli settlement U.N. resolution.

Did Flynn make false statements?

A document filed with the court by the special counsel says that Flynn "did willfully and knowingly make materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements and representations" to the FBI regarding his interaction with then-Russian Envoy Sergey Kislyak.

Is Michael Flynn a former Obama official?

Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer, said in a statement that Flynn is a "former Obama administration official.". "Today, Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor at the White House for 25 days during the Trump administration, and a former Obama administration official, entered a guilty plea to a single count of making a false statement to ...

image

Jan. 25, 2017

  • The Department of Justicereceived a detailed readout from the FBI agents who had interviewed Flynn. Yates said she felt “it was important to get this information to the White House as quickly as possible.”
See more on abcnews.go.com

Jan. 26, 2017

  • Yates called McGahn first thing that morning to tell him she had “a very sensitive matter" that had to be discussed face to face. McGahn agreed to meet with Yates later that afternoon. Later that day, Yates traveled to the White House along with a senior member of the DOJ’s National Security Division, who was overseeing the matter. It was Yates’ first meeting with McGahn in his office, w…
See more on abcnews.go.com

Jan. 27, 2017

  • Yates’ second in-person meeting with McGahn happened the next day. McGahn called Yates in the morning and asked if she could come back to his office, and she returned that afternoon. One of the topics discussed was whether Flynn could be prosecuted for his conduct. One of the questions McGahn asked Flynn was, “Why does it matter to DOJ if one White House official lies t…
See more on abcnews.go.com

Jan. 30, 2017

  • Yates called McGahn “first thing Monday morning” to tell him he would be allowed to “come over and review the underlying evidence.” She didn’t hear back from him until that afternoon. However, she said she doesn’t know whether McGahn or anyone from his office came to look at the material “because that was my last day with DOJ.” Yates left her post with the DOJ that day beca…
See more on abcnews.go.com

Feb. 9, 2017

  • Pence first heard that Flynn misled him about his contact with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, according to White House officials, two full weeks after Yates first met with McGahn.
See more on abcnews.go.com

Feb. 13, 2017

  • Eighteen days after Yates raised the concern about Flynn to the White House, Flynn resigned from his post as national security adviser, pushed out by Trump. When asked whether Flynn might have been compromised during the 18-day period he remained national security advisor, Yates said she doesn’t have an answer for that, but that she was “really concerned about the compromise here.…
See more on abcnews.go.com

Concerns About Flynn

Image
The FBI and Department of Justice knew about Flynn's conduct, and more important, "the Russians also knew about what Gen. Flynn had done" and that he had misled Pence, Yates said. That created a "compromise situation," in which Flynn "essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians." Yates testified today bef…
See more on abcnews.go.com

How We Got Here

  • Yates' testimony today comes after she notified the White House of her intent to appear before the House Intelligence Committee in March. That hearing was then postponed by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the chairman of the committee, leading Yates' lawyer to question whether the White House took action to prevent her testimony — a suggestion the administration denied. "I h…
See more on abcnews.go.com

Yates and The Trump Administration

  • The relationship between Yates and the White House is complicated by the circumstances surrounding her firing. In January she instructed the Justice Department not to defend Trump's controversial order limiting travel and immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa. She took a moment to defend her actions at today's hearing, saying, "I di…
See more on abcnews.go.com

Russian interference

  • Asked whether the U.S. government is doing enough to deter attacks by Russia, Yates said, "I think they are coming back and we need to do more to ensure that folks out there know when they are looking at news feeds that it may not be real news that they are reading." She added, "I think that we have to do more to deter the Russians and it wouldn't hurt to prosecute a few folks, but I don'…
See more on abcnews.go.com