The White House on Monday cast doubt on embattled National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s political future, with a spokesman saying President Donald Trump was “evaluating” the aide’s contacts with the Russian government.
Before Trump took office, Flynn allegedly had private discussions with Moscow’s ambassador about then-president Barack Obama’s plans to impose sanctions on Russia in which he signalled his Republican boss would take a softer line.
After the contacts first came to light in January, Flynn denied the issue had been discussed, and Vice President Mike Pence publicly backed him up on multiple TV talk shows.
There are now accusations that the security advisor, a retired army three-star general, misled Pence, with both The Washington Post and The New York Times citing multiple officials confirming he had indeed made the comments.
Reversing himself last week, Flynn told both newspapers that he could not recall whether sanctions had come up in his talks with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.
“The president is evaluating the situation,” said spokesman Sean Spicer, indicating that Trump was speaking to Pence and “various other people about what he considers the single most important subject there is - our national security.”
Just minutes before Spicer’s statement, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told MSNBC that Flynn “does enjoy the full confidence of the president.”
Several Democratic lawmakers have called on Flynn to resign over the situation, which has become a major embarrassment for the ruling Republicans.
He would become the first personnel casualty of Trump’s White House, which is less than four weeks old.
‘Staggering’ allegations
Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called the allegations “staggering,” saying Monday that if they are true, Flynn should resign or be fired.
“Either he was lying about not having discussed that, or he forgot,” said Democratic Senator Al Franken on CNN’s “State of The Union” program Sunday.
“I don’t think you want a guy in either of those scenarios to be in that position” as national security advisor, he said.
The issue comes up just days before Trump has his first official talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, talks in which the president’s national security advisor would normally have a key role.
Flynn, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has been a close advisor to Trump since early in his campaign for president.
But his choice as Trump’s top national security advisor has been controversial.
Many in the US intelligence community say he is ill-suited for the crucial job; they note he was fired as DIA chief after two years for alleged poor management.
He sees militant Islam as the biggest threat to global stability, and has said that Washington and Moscow need to cooperate on the issue.
The Justice Department and Congress are both investigating possible links between Trump campaign advisors and Moscow, and US intelligence has concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed an operation to interfere in the US election.
On December 29, the Obama administration sanctioned four Russian individuals and five entities, and expelled 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation.

Source: Gulfnews