Barely a quarter of the way through President Trump’s first 100 days in office, much of Washington sees an administration in disarray.
Former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn’s resignation “exposes a White House in chaos,” said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., complained of a “dysfunctional White House” and “the dysfunction of the current national security apparatus.”
It’s been a trying time for the Trump administration. Not long after counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway assured the public Flynn enjoyed Trump’s “full confidence,” the national security adviser resigned abruptly, issuing a statement in which he apologized for having “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador.”
Initially perceived as a voluntary resignation, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that the president fired Flynn. “The president was very concerned that Gen. Flynn had misled the vice president and others,” Spicer said.
The Flynn fallout wasn’t the only issue the Trump administration was dealing with Tuesday. The head of a government ethics office recommended the White House investigate and possibly discipline Conway for using a television interview to promote Ivanka Trump’s products.
Some worry that both the Flynn and Conway headlines are diverting attention from other things the Trump administration could be focused on.
“A lot of people resistant to voting for Donald Trump last November found ourselves in that position partly out of concern that there was exactly zero chance that, to some degree, if elected he wouldn’t use his office for personal or familial financial gain,” said GOP strategist Liz Mair, a frequent Trump critic.
“Gratifying though it is to see that we were right, it’d be far preferable if the president got serious about sequestering business concerns from presidential ones, not least because wasting time talking about shoes is totally useless to people facing real financial insecurity thanks to things like high deductibles and triple-digit premium, which remain prevalent due to Republican dithering on Obamacare repeal.”
Prior to that, Trump had been criticized for hastily rolling out an immigration executive order targeting seven majority-Muslim countries. The measure triggered large protests and has been held up in federal court. Trump had to fire acting attorney general Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover, when she wouldn’t mount a legal defense of the order.
One new poll found the American people split on the merits of the travel ban but a rising majority do not like the way it was implemented.
“It’s been acknowledged by members of his administration that maybe they should have taken a little bit more time,” said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.
Yet it is Flynn’s departure that may prove to be the biggest headache.
For congressional Democrats, Flynn’s resignation is the latest disturbing chapter in a story that goes back to Trump benefiting from Russian hacking during the presidential campaign.
“The FBI must accelerate its investigation of the Russian connection to the Trump Administration,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, “and Congress must call for a bipartisan, independent outside commission to fully investigate Russia’s influence on the Administration and the election.”
Congressional Republicans expressed confidence in ongoing probes and while generally less interested in re-litigating the election, there has been daylight between Trump and GOP lawmakers on Russia.
“There’s an ongoing, bipartisan investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee, and that’s ongoing,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told reporters Tuesday.
“I believe the scope of that would cover anything that has to do with Russia and its involvement in before, during and after the election. … I have full confidence that the intelligence committee is going to do a good job. If they don’t, I’ll let everyone know that we didn’t, but I believe that we can and I believe that we will.”
“The Senate Intelligence Committee has conducted and will continue to conduct vigorous oversight over the activities of the Intelligence Community, and will do so in regular order, consistent with previous investigations to protect classified information,” said Becca Glover Watkins, communications director for the panel’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
Within the Trump administration itself, the affair has led to speculation about factions and infighting, with the news website formerly run by top strategist Stephen Bannon blaming the upheaval on chief of staff Reince Preibus, often portrayed as a Bannon rival and the Republican establishment’s man in the White House.
Flynn’s defenders argue the national security adviser’s ouster sets a bad precedent by rewarding leaks by members of the intelligence community who aren’t necessarily supportive of the administration. As Trump himself noted on Twitter, the White House has been plagued by leaking.
“The spirit of the Logan Act is not to prohibit the incoming administration from getting prepared,” said a former Bush national security official, adding that the White House should release the transcripts so the public can see whether Flynn’s exchange with the ambassador was appropriate.
The official noted it would be difficult to argue against politically motivated leaking given that the Trump campaign benefited from leaked Democratic emails during the campaign, saying, “Everybody’s dirty. Congress is going to have to step in and fix this, both parties.”
There is still plenty of time for Trump to turn things around. “I’m very fond of Secretary of Homeland Security [John] Kelly,” Jones said. “Him and [Defense Secretary James] Mattis, If Trump would listen to them, he would receive wise counsel.”
But the initial praise from supporters for moving so quickly to fulfill campaign promises is starting to yield to complaints that this White House is in too much of a hurry, and stumbling along the way.
