Today, Sean Spicer fielded multiple questions from a hostile media about whether Sally Yates‘ concerns about Michael Flynn were handled properly. Spicer made clear that Flynn served this country with distinction and that the White House had no desire to re-litigate what Flynn may or may not have done. Trump asked for Flynn’s resignation and he received it. Trump cannot go back and ask Flynn for his resignation a second time.
Spicer painstakingly went through the timeline between Yates voicing her concerns and Flynn being asked to resign. Yates claims that she was clear about her warning, however, the White House disputes that point. White House counsel, Don McGahn, required Yates to come back a second time to fully brief him on on Yates concerns. Trump was notified immediately of Yates’ concerns about Flynn.
Over the next several days, Yates proved that she was hostile to the President’s agenda and was terminated. Even though Yates was proven to be hostile, McGahn still went to the DOJ where he examined the Yates documents. Spicer refused to tell reporters what was contained in Yates’ documents but did tell us that McGahn was doing his due diligence and leading his own investigation into the matter. Eleven days after McGahn had viewed the documents at the DOJ, the President asked for Flynn’s resignation because it had come to the President’s attention that Flynn had lied to the Vice-President.
The media’s bias was clear through their numerous attempts to get the White House to state that Yates’ concerns were valid. Spicer did not give their agenda the time of day. Spicer clearly stated that Flynn was terminated for misleading the Vice-President and not for anything that Yates may have had in a file on him.
