Washington, D.C. — Center for American Progress Senior Fellow John Norris issued the following statement regarding the decision to appoint retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as the national security adviser:
The selection of Lt. Gen. Flynn as national security adviser is further troubling evidence of President-elect Donald Trump’s lack of judgment in filling the most important national security positions in the U.S. government. Although Flynn earlier served his country with distinction, he was dismissed as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency for poor performance, and his recent conduct reveals a stunning and disqualifying series of conflicts of interest.
We call on the president-elect to reverse this decision and for members of both parties to ask Lt. Gen. Flynn to step aside.
Lt. Gen. Flynn received classified national intelligence briefings with Trump even as he and his firm were being paid tens of thousands of dollars advising foreign clients, including Turkey. Even as an adviser to the president-elect, he still engaged in foreign influence peddling. It is unclear if Flynn disclosed these obvious conflicts as required to take part in the transition team.
Lt. Gen. Flynn has sketchy ties to Vladimir Putin’s Russia that represent a dangerous and unprecedented subjugation of U.S. interests to Moscow. Flynn has been on Russia’s payroll as a semi-regular guest on the Russian propaganda channel RT and was paid by the Russians to sit with President Putin as a guest of honor at RT’s 10th anniversary dinner. These ties explain why Flynn denied Russia’s role in hacks to influence the presidential election—despite the unanimous determination by U.S. intelligence agencies that these were Russian attacks.
Lt. Gen. Flynn has promoted wild conspiracy theories, including that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton armed terrorists in Libya, and he believes the West to be in a religious war with all of Islam rather than against jihadi extremists and terrorists, which is exactly what the terrorists want.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.