Vice President-elect Mike Pence, overseeing President-elect Trump’s transition team, skirted around a reporter’s question on Tuesday alleging incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn had requested a security clearance for his son, Michael G. Flynn.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Pence seven times during the interview if Flynn Jr., known for erratic tweets about conspiracy theories, was involved in the transition process or another component of the administration. Tapper cited a new report claiming Trump had personally insisted the lieutenant general’s son no longer help his father.
“His son was helping him a bit with scheduling and administrative items. But that’s no longer the case. Look, all of our families want to be helpful, and four weeks to the day from Election Day, there has been an awful lot of work to do,” Pence said. “But Mike Flynn Jr. is no longer associated with General Flynn’s efforts or with the transition team and we’re focused eyes forward.”
But when Tapper asked if Flynn Jr.’s helping with scheduling required him having a security clearance and again if Pence was aware his father had requested credentials, Pence repeated his previous responses that the son had helped his father with administrative tasks and pushed Tapper to move on.
“General Flynn did inform him his son was helping on administrative matters. But Jake, this is all the kind of distraction that, frankly, I know, with all due respect, the national media likes to chase after,” Pence said. “I think what the American people are impressed by and it’s a reason why frankly you see public opinion on the rise about the president-elect in the last four weeks, is because they’re seeing the kind of decisive leadership that Donald Trump is bringing to this transition.”
“Sorry, you’re not answering the question,” Tapper pushed back. “Were you aware that the transition team had put in for a security clearance? This is a young man who had a social media profile with all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories, all sorts of links and retweets with white supremacists. Were you aware that the transition team put in for a security clearance for him?”
Pence did not answer Tapper’s initial question, but said Flynn Jr. was no longer assisting his father in any capacity.
Flynn Jr. has been heavily criticized for sharing a message on Twitter that a Washington, D.C., pizzeria had a Satantic pedophilia cult in its basement. The tweet prompted a man in North Carolina to travel to the district on Sunday and try to rescue the group, not knowing Flynn Jr.’s tweet was false. The man opened fire in the Comet restaurant, but did not hurt anyone inside.
“Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many ‘coincidences’ tied to it,” Flynn Jr. tweeted.
Both son and father have tweeted some controversial messages on Twitter, though Flynn Jr.’s have outpaced his father’s sometimes unpopular remarks.
