The White House on Monday downplayed a report that President Obama warned President Trump about hiring retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn as his national security adviser.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that report was true, but said it shouldn’t be surprising because Flynn was a critic of Obama by the end of the Obama administration.
“It’s true that … President Obama made it known that he wasn’t exactly a fan of Gen. Flynn’s, which … frankly shouldn’t come as a surprise given that Gen. Flynn had worked for President Obama, was an outspoken critic of President Obama’s shortcomings, specifically as it related to his lack of strategy confronting ISIS and other threats,” Spicer said.
“I don’t think that should have come as a surprise considering the role that Gen. Flynn played in the campaign,” Spicer added.
Instead, Spicer echoed Trump’s tweets Monday morning that the blame should be on the previous administration for not suspending Flynn’s security clearance.
“The question that you have to ask yourself was, if President Obama was truly concerned about Gen. Flynn, why didn’t he suspend Gen. Flynn’s security clearance, which they had just reapproved much earlier,” he asked.
“Additionally, why did the Obama administration let Flynn go to Russia and do a speaking engagement and receive a fee?” he asked.
Lawmakers from the House Oversight Committee have previously said there’s no evidence Flynn asked the Pentagon and State Department for permission to speak at a Russia Today event in Russia, as he is required to do as a retired military officer. Flynn also worked as a lobbyist for the Turkish government, but there does not appear to be any evidence he asked for permission for that payment either.
