Sally Yates Testimony Blows Trump Russia Scandal Wide Open

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr. Trump “welcomes” a congressional investigation into any business ties to Russian Federation, after the South Carolina Republican suggested at a hearing Monday that he wants to know more about the president’s possible links. He said then she informed the White House counsel’s office that there were materials relevant to the situation involving Flynn. “When a foreign power interferes in our election, it doesn’t matter who they targeted”, he said.

Collins then asked how Yates was an opponent to Trump if she was the Acting Attorney General whom Trump chose to keep on.

But President Trump did not immediately fire the adviser, Michael T Flynn, over the apparent lie or the susceptibility to blackmail.

Spicer noted that Yates, who was sacked January 30 for failing to enforce the travel ban, was appointed by the Obama administration and was a strong supporter of Trump’s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. Yates’ decision not to defend Trump’s first travel ban vindicates that mistrust of her motives, the press secretary insisted – as well as its decision not to inform her of the travel ban before it was started.

The White House’s behavior suggests an overarching goal of avoiding embarrassment as scandal loomed so soon after the inauguration. “You don’t want your national security adviser compromised with the Russians”.

Donald Trump has defended the former national security adviser he fired earlier this year for lying to the Vice President, saying that he is “a very good person” with a strong record of public service.

“He’s fine with that”, Spicer said at a briefing in Washington in Tuesday. Did he not understand or care about what Yates had told him the day before-that DOJ thought Flynn had badly misled the American people and was compromised by the Russians?

After Yates warned the Trump administration, it took officials 18 days to fire Flynn, something Hayden attributes to “chaos and incompetence” within the White House.

Yates testified Monday before a Senate panel that she had delivered urgent messages to White House counsel Donald McGahn about Flynn as a potential blackmail target.

Flynn’s forced resignation followed media reports that he had discussed USA -imposed sanctions on Russian Federation with Ambassador Kislyak, which was contrary to the public representations of the Trump White House. Probes by several congressional committees into Russian election meddling have been bogged down for weeks amid accusations by Democrats that Republicans have stalled progress to protect the White House.

Two in-the-know sources reportedly told the outlet that the president is feeling something like guilt about the way Flynn’s ouster played out, and the way the media is handling the ongoing Russian Federation investigation.

It nevertheless took 18 days before Mr Trump, pressed by Mr Pence and others, dismissed the retired army lieutenant-general, who had advised him on security issues throughout the 2016 presidential campaign.