President Donald Trump suggested on Twitter Tuesday that the resignation of Michael Flynn was little more than a distraction, and that the “real story” is the number of leaks coming out of Washington.
The tweet, which came hours after Flynn resigned after he misled Vice President Mike Pence about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States, did not mention Flynn by name.
“The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington?” he tweeted. “Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?”
The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2017
The White House has dealt with numerous leaks in its month-old administration. A White House aide told Politico last week that the administration has launched an investigation into leaks coming out of Washington.
Top Republicans have also called for an investigation into the leaks.
Trump was asked by reporters on Feb. 10, as he made his way to Mar-a-Lago aboard Air Force One, if he had any comment on the stories that Flynn had contacted Russian authorities and talked about the sanctions put into place by President Obama. "I don't know about that," he said. "I haven't seen it.”
According to Sally Yates, then acting attorney general, she informed the White House counsel of Flynn's misleading statements in “late January.” She said she was concerned that Flynn could be subject to blackmail by the Russians because they knew what he had discussed with the Russian ambassador and knew he was not, at least publically, revealing that.
Yates was dismissed from her job not long after when she refused to defend Trump’s immigration travel ban.
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