The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says it’s not fair for the Trump administration to blame the Obama administration for vetting retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, and said President Trump still bears some responsibility for letting Flynn become his national security adviser.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on MSNBC that the administration’s spin is faulty because of Flynn’s dismissal from the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. The Obama administration did give Flynn a security clearance, and the Trump administration says it accepted that decision, but Schiff said that overlooks too much of Flynn’s past.
“The reality is he was fired by the Obama administration,” Schiff said, adding that Trump’s White House is just covering up for its own lackluster vetting process. “None of this lets the Trump administration off the hook for not doing adequate vetting,” he said.
Schiff said it’s also a sign that President Trump was fine with Flynn getting money from foreign governments, despite never seeking permission from the U.S. government.
“The president praised Gen. Flynn and I think that’s the president’s way of saying what Mike Flynn did was perfectly fine with him,” Schiff said. “He was upset at the press for forcing him to fire Flynn.”
Schiff is the leading Democrat on the House investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and has made a name for himself in recent months criticizing Republican lawmakers for not doing more to dig into the matter. He said the White House is another part of the problem.
“Thus far, I think it’s the effort of deflection,” Schiff said when asked for his biggest complaint about President Trump’s administration. “I think it’s the overall unwillingness to accept the seriousness of what Russia did in the election.”
