Michael Flynn, the national security adviser to President Trump, resigned late Monday over revelations about his potentially illegal contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States, and his misleading statements about the matter to senior Trump administration officials.
Flynn’s swift downfall: From a phone call in the Dominican Republic to a forced resignation at the White House by Greg Miller, Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima
But Flynn’s removal was also the culmination of swirling forces and resentment unleashed by the 2016 election. He embodied the bitterly partisan nature of the contest, leading “Lock her up” chants directed at Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton during the Republican National Convention. His unusual association with Russia — and the discovery of his secret communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak — fanned suspicion among senior Obama administration officials of a more sinister aspect to Russia’s interference in the election. And ultimately, Flynn’s misleading statements about the Kislyak calls added to broader concerns about the Trump administration’s regard for the truth.
Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer have their own ‘alternative facts’ on Flynn’s resignation by Aaron Blake
After the White House put out the word late Monday night and Conway said on TV Tuesday morning that national security adviser Michael Flynn's decision to resign was his own, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the complete opposite on Tuesday afternoon.
Flynn departure erupts into a full-blown crisis for the Trump White House by Karen DeYoung, Abby Phillip and Jenna Johnson
President Trump’s ouster of national security adviser Michael Flynn, and the circumstances leading up to it, have quickly become a major crisis for the fledgling administration, forcing the White House on the defensive and precipitating the first significant breach in relations between Trump and an increasingly restive Republican Congress.
Flynn episode ‘darkens the cloud’ of Russia that hangs over Trump administration by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger
Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of the Senate Republican leadership, told a Missouri radio station Tuesday that the Senate Intelligence Committee should look into Trump’s Russia connections “exhaustively so that at the end of this process, nobody wonders whether there was a stone left unturned, and shouldn’t reach conclusions before you have the information that you need to have to make those conclusions.”
Michael Flynn is gone and everything is fine, just fine, great by Alexandra Petri
The Trump administration is doing exactly what I do when I try to assemble Ikea furniture, in the sense that it has clearly not consulted any instructions and now before it has finished its cabinet a big piece has fallen off. Also in the sense that there are dangerous screws loose everywhere. Not in the sense that when I try to assemble Ikea furniture the lives of thousands of refugees are thrown into limbo. Or in the sense that when I try to assemble a cabinet people call Reince Priebus cruel names and he has to joke ineptly to a journalist that he and Stephen K. Bannon are best buddies and he gives Bannon a back rub every night. (This is an actual thing that happened.)
In the early weeks of the new administration, the humbling of a president by Dan Balz
Trump’s campaign was never entirely smooth, but instincts that served him so well then appear to be less helpful now that he is in office. As president, Trump’s early moves — with some exceptions — have been marked by poor judgment, botched execution, hubris among some advisers, and a climate of fear and disorder all around.
Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of the Senate Republican leadership, told a Missouri radio station Tuesday that the Senate Intelligence Committee should look into Trump’s Russia connections “exhaustively so that at the end of this process, nobody wonders whether there was a stone left unturned, and shouldn’t reach conclusions before you have the information that you need to have to make those conclusions.”
Michael Flynn is gone and everything is fine, just fine, great by Alexandra Petri
The Trump administration is doing exactly what I do when I try to assemble Ikea furniture, in the sense that it has clearly not consulted any instructions and now before it has finished its cabinet a big piece has fallen off. Also in the sense that there are dangerous screws loose everywhere. Not in the sense that when I try to assemble Ikea furniture the lives of thousands of refugees are thrown into limbo. Or in the sense that when I try to assemble a cabinet people call Reince Priebus cruel names and he has to joke ineptly to a journalist that he and Stephen K. Bannon are best buddies and he gives Bannon a back rub every night. (This is an actual thing that happened.)
In the early weeks of the new administration, the humbling of a president by Dan Balz
Trump’s campaign was never entirely smooth, but instincts that served him so well then appear to be less helpful now that he is in office. As president, Trump’s early moves — with some exceptions — have been marked by poor judgment, botched execution, hubris among some advisers, and a climate of fear and disorder all around.
Pence remains above the fray, but is he outside the inner circle? by Robert Costa and Ashley Parker
Throughout the campaign and now in office, Pence has largely managed to avoid the infighting and warring factions of the young White House by keeping his head down and soldiering loyally forward. But the incident with Flynn reveals both the benefits and risks of his approach — he has emerged largely unharmed by the scandal that led to Flynn’s resignation, but his influence within the West Wing has come increasingly into question given how little he knew about his own situation.
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