President Obama personally warned President-elect Donald Trump against hiring Mike Flynn as national security adviser when Obama and Trump met in the Oval Office just two days after the election, according to a new report.
NBC News reported that Obama said he did not believe Flynn was “suitable” for any high post, and said Obama was worried about problems related to “mismanagement and temperament issues.” The report said Obama’s warning was not related to Flynn’s contact with foreign officials, which led to his resignation after less than a month in the Trump administration.
NBC News said three former Obama administration officials confirmed the Flynn discussion between Obama and Trump.
Flynn was already announced as Trump’s choice for national security adviser when he spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on the phone in December, and discussed sanctions placed on Russia by the Obama administration for the country’s meddling in the elections. Flynn originally said he had not discussed sanctions, a claim that was repeated by Vice President Mike Pence. But a transcript of the call was later leaked to the media, and Flynn was forced to resign.
Last week, the Washington Post reported that senior members of the Trump transition team had warned Flynn that the calls of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were most likely being monitored, and that any calls Flynn might have with Kislyak would have been caught up in the surveillance.
Flynn would later come under fire for allegedly not seeking approval for earning income from foreign sources, like he did in 2015 when he accepted a speaker’s fee to appear at a gala for “Russia Today,” a television station directly supported by the Russian regime.
President Trump on Monday blamed the Obama administration for the problems related to Flynn, because Flynn’s security clearance was renewed under Obama. Trump tweeted, “”General Flynn was given the highest security clearance by the Obama administration — but the Fake News seldom likes talking about that.”