immediately force him out, an administration spokesman said on Tuesday.
Trump was informed
in late January that Flynn had not told Vice President Mike Pence the whole
truth about conversations he had before Trump took office with Russia's
ambassador to the United States, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
Pence learned of the
"incomplete information" that he received from Flynn when news
reports surfaced late last week, spokesman Mark Lotter said on Tuesday.
Flynn quit on Monday
after Trump asked for his resignation, and the president hopes to pick a new national
security adviser by the end of the week, Spicer said.
The departure was
another disruption for an administration already repeatedly distracted by
miscues and internal dramas since the Republican businessman assumed the
presidency on Jan. 20.
The New York Times
reported late on Tuesday that members of Trump's campaign and other associates
had contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the
Nov. 8 presidential election, although U.S. officials told the newspaper they
had not uncovered any evidence that Trump's associates colluded to disrupt the
election.
U.S. lawmakers,
including some leading Republicans, called for a deeper inquiry into not just
Flynn's actions but broader White House ties to Russia. Trump has long said that
he would like improved relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Representative Adam
Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence
Committee, said Trump only moved against Flynn because of news media attention,
not concern about any wrongdoing.
"The reason
they lost faith or trust in General Flynn only last night when they knew for
weeks that he had been lying was that it became public," Schiff told
MSNBC.
A timeline of events
outlined by Spicer and a U.S. official showed that Trump had known for weeks
about Flynn misleading the vice president.
Trump, a former
reality TV star whose catchphrase was "You're fired!" has often
boasted of his eagerness to get rid of subordinates. He was not quick to fire
Flynn, a strong advocate of a better relations with Russia and a hard line
against Islamist militants.
The Justice
Department warned the White House in late January that Flynn had misled Pence
by denying to him that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with
Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, a potentially illegal act, a U.S. official said.
Flynn did talk about
sanctions with the diplomat, whose calls were recorded by U.S. intelligence
officials, the official said. But Pence went on television in mid-January and
denied that Flynn had discussed sanctions.
The Federal Bureau
of Investigation interviewed Flynn in his early days as Trump's national
security adviser regarding his conversations with the Russian ambassador, a
White House official confirmed.
Spicer stressed that
the administration believed there was no legal problem with Flynn's
conversations with Kislyak, but rather an issue over the president's trust in
his adviser.
The turning point,
Spicer said, was a Washington Post story published on Thursday in which Flynn,
through a spokesman, said for the first time he could not say with 100 percent
certainty that he had not discussed sanctions with Kislyak.
Spicer said the
Justice Department sought to notify the White House counsel on Jan. 26 about
the discrepancies in Flynn's accounts.
"The White
House counsel informed the president immediately. The president asked them to
commit a review of whether there was a legal situation there," Spicer told
reporters, saying it was a "trust issue."
Flynn's
conversations with the ambassador took place around the time that
then-President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia, charging that Moscow
had used cyber attacks to try to influence the 2016 presidential election in
Trump's favor.
A U.S. official
familiar with the transcripts of the calls with the ambassador said Flynn
indicated that if Russia did not retaliate in kind for Obama's Dec. 29 order
expelling 35 Russian suspected spies and sanctioning Russian spy agencies, that
could smooth the way toward a broader discussion of improving U.S.-Russian
relations once Trump took power.
LEGAL FALLOUT?
Flynn's discussions
with the Russian diplomat could potentially have been in violation of a law
known as the Logan Act, which bans private citizens from negotiating with
foreign governments about disputes or controversies with the United States.
There have been no modern prosecutions using the 1799 law.
"The Logan Act
is a red herring. The better question is whether he made any false statements
to the FBI at any point, which would be a much bigger deal," said
University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck, adding the fallout would
likely be "political" in nature.
Flynn could also
face legal trouble if it emerges that he violated other federal laws in his
communications with the Russians, said Andrew Kent, a professor at Fordham
University School of Law in New York. The Espionage Act criminalizes sharing
information with foreign governments.
Democrats, who do
not have control of Congress, clamored for probes into Flynn, and asked how
much Trump knew about his connections to Russia.
U.S. Senate
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called for an investigation of potential
criminal violations surrounding the resignation of Flynn.
"What I am
calling for is an independent investigation with executive authority to pursue
potential criminal actions," Schumer told reporters, saying such a probe
could not be led by newly installed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions or
White House lawyers.
Two leading Senate
Republicans, Bob Corker and John Cornyn, said the Intelligence Committee should
investigate Flynn's contacts with Russia.
But the
highest-ranking Republican in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Paul
Ryan, sidestepped questions about whether lawmakers should look into Flynn's
Russia ties, saying he would leave it to the Trump administration to explain
the circumstances behind Flynn's departure.
A broader
investigation of the White House and its ties to Russia is not possible without
the cooperation either of the Justice Department or the Republican-led
Congress.
Russia's aggression
in Ukraine and Syria and Republican congressional opposition to removing
sanctions on Russia make any White House attempt to embrace Putin problematic.
Senator John McCain,
a leading Republican voice on foreign relations, said Flynn's resignation
raised questions about the administration’s intentions toward Putin’s Russia.
*REUITERS*
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