Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, said Monday the president’s embattled national security adviser continues to enjoy Trump’s full support despite a spate of reports suggesting he may have misled the vice president over his pre-inaugural contact with Russia.
“Gen. [Mike] Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president,” Conway said during an interview with MSNBC.
Flynn has come under fire for seemingly false statements he made to reporters and to Vice President Mike Pence about whether he discussed sanctions relief with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.
Pence later repeated Flynn’s denial as fact.
Reports that indicate Flynn did indeed broach the topic of removing sanctions against Russia during his conversation with the Russian official have since surfaced, calling into question Flynn’s previous characterization of that conversation.
On Friday, Trump said he had not seen the reports about Flynn and promised to look into them.
Conway’s assurances on Monday marked the first time an administration official has spoken out in defense of Flynn since the allegations resurfaced late last week.
Democratic lawmakers have begun to call for Flynn’s resignation over what they have described as credibility issues.
Conway said she had no clarification on whether Flynn discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador, instead citing Flynn’s most recent statement, in which he claimed he did not remember whether he and the ambassador talked about the issue.
“You’re asking me, what did he talk about with people when I wasn’t on the phone, so the only way for me to answer that is to tell you what he has said, which is that he can’t recall,” Conway said. “And what he informed the vice president at the time through a conversation was that he had not, the vice president went out on TV, as you know, in January, and repeated that based on the conversation he had with Gen. Flynn.”
