Donald Trump: Michael Flynn is a high-profile fail in a fledgling administration
Updated
Michael Flynn has effectively been sacked by two presidents.
Defence intelligence chief under the Obama administration, he was let go for insubordination, or not following orders (though he says it was because he had a tougher stance on Islamic extremism).
Now he's handed his resignation to Donald Trump due to loss of trust.
Discussing sanctions with the Russian ambassador before the inauguration — before he officially took up the role of national security adviser and before Donald Trump was elected — is a clear breach of protocol.
A so-called "routine wiretap" of the conversation recorded the fact that the pair did talk about sanctions imposed by then-president Obama in retaliation for Russian involvement in pre-election email hacks.
The problem is that Mr Flynn told Mike Pence that he and the Russian ambassador didn't talk about it, and then the Vice-President said that on television.
The Justice Department contacted the Trump administration to say that version of events didn't match the wiretaps, raising concerns that the Russians may be able to hold this lie over the national security adviser to blackmail him later.
The FBI interviewed Mr Flynn about the matter in the early days of the administration.
The White House senior counsel also had a look at whether the chain of events broke any laws and found that no law was broken, however there was still the small matter of the lie to the Vice-President of the United States.
The media clamour over the matter was also becoming a distraction.
Mr Pence is particularly unflappable, however he'd already been caught out once when he said publicly that Mr Flynn's son had not been granted a high-level security clearance when he had.
What all of that means is that by the time Mr Trump asked for Mr Flynn's resignation, he had already known for some weeks that the discussion had been had and that his national security adviser had lied about it — although the President feigned ignorance when asked about the matter on board Air Force One just days ago.
According to press secretary Sean Spicer, nothing that was discussed was a violation of any sort but the President's trust in Mr Flynn had gradually unravelled.
Mr Flynn's links to Russia raised questions before he was appointed.
It's been suggested that White House security briefings have been cautious because of NSA concern about leaks and surveillance.
However, Mr Flynn was a close campaign ally of Mr Trump, who has a declared interest in forging a more friendly relationship with the Kremlin.
Now he'll have to do that without his key adviser, a high-profile fail in an administration that's less than a month old.
Topics: world-politics, us-elections, united-states
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