US President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has resigned on Monday amid the raging controversy about his contacts with Russian officials before Trump took office, a White House official said.
Michael Flynn becomes the first senior government official to leave the new administration. It has been less than a month after Donald Trump’s inauguration.
US President Donald Trump and his National Security Adviser Michael Flynn/ Reuters
Retired General Keith Kellogg, who has been the chief of staff at the National Security Council, has been named acting national security adviser.
The White House said Trump had accepted Flynn’s resignation as the retired three-star general came under fire over whether he discussed US sanctions strategy with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak before Trump taking office.
Flynn had promised Vice President Mike Pence that he had not discussed US sanctions with the Russians, but he admitted that he “inadvertently briefed” Pence with “incomplete information” about his calls with Kislyak.
Screenshot of Michael Flynn's resignation letter
US private citizens are banned from getting engaged in foreign policy, according to the Logan Act and the calls happened late last year before Flynn was appointed to the administration.
The US Department of Justice had informed the White House earlier last month that Flynn was not fully forthright about his conversations with the Russian ambassador and could be vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow.
Earlier on Monday, White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said that Trump was “evaluating the situation” involving his national security adviser.
Asked whether the president had been aware that Flynn might have discussed sanctions with the Russian envoy, Spicer said, “No, absolutely not.”
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