President Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to defend is his former National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn.
“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies,” said Trump.
“It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/937007006526959618
The tweet is Trump’s first public address Flynn since he pled guilty Friday to charges of lying to the FBI. He has now promised full cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
During his time working for the transition, Flynn consistently argued for a softer tone on Russia and was also serving as a paid lobbyist for the Turkey.
It has been widely speculated that Flynn was given the opportunity to plead to lesser charges than could have been brought in exchange for information he may have on senior Trump administration officials. Former transition team foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, also pleaded guilty to the same charge in October in exchange for his cooperation.
The Flynn news broke on the same day President Trump hosted the annual White House Media Christmas Party — which CNN and many others stayed away from this year. Despite the Flynn news, Trump appeared upbeat. He did not address the matter in remarks to the assembled journalists.