Photo by Gage Skidmore/CC BY SA2.0
The flagrant disregard for ethics and laws is catching up with President Donald Trump less than one month into his term of office. Richard Nixon's paranoia did him in. Donald Trump's self- righteous self-absorption may do the same to him.
The resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is just the beginning. It happened at this point in time because of superb journalistic reporting by The Washington Post exposing Flynn’s connections to Russia. On February 9, the Post broke the story revealing that Flynn privately discussed sanctions against Russia with the Russian Ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, weeks before Trump took office. This was contrary to public statements made by Trump officials and Vice President Mike Pence. Reports now state that Pence did not find out the truth until February 9, well after his Face the Nation appearance defending Flynn on January 15.
The Post took the story a step further when it reported that acting Attorney General Sally Yates informed the Trump White House late last month that she believed Flynn not only misled senior administration officials about the nature of his communications with the Russian ambassador, but warned them that he was potentially vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer let us know his version of what the President knew and when he knew it, but left more questions unanswered. He said Trump knew "for weeks" that his National Security Advisor had misled White House officials and Vice President Mike Pence before he was forced to resign.
If the White House knew about Flynn and Russia weeks earlier why did they do nothing about it until a major newspaper broke the story?
Trump only dug himself in deeper on Friday, February 10, the day after The Washington Post story first appeared. When questioned about the Flynn story by reporters onboard Air Force One, the president responded,
"I don't know about that. I haven't seen it. What report is that? I haven't seen that. I'll look into that,"
But Trump did know about it. The truth was withheld.
White House Counsel Don McGahn reportedly told Trump the details in a briefing late last month after he was informed by acting attorney general Sally Yates on Jan. 26. Spicer now says the president and a small group of senior aides were briefed by McGahn about Flynn that same day.
Trump's relationship with Russia has raised serious questions since the early days of his campaign. Flynn's contacts with the Russian Ambassador initially became of interest because their timing centered around the latest sanctions against Russia. Those sanctions were imposed when U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had waged a cyber campaign to help elect Donald Trump.
Speaking for the White House about Flynn's departure, Sean Spicer said "the evolving and eroding level of trust" is what led the president to ask for Flynn's resignation. Those same words - evolving and eroding level of trust - could be applied to the Trump presidency.
Russia and the White House have not gone away.