In the wake of Michael Flynn’s decision to plead guilty to lying to the FBI about his involvements with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Donald Trump took to Twitter to clear his name.
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“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI,” Trump wrote. “He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide.”
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Trump’s tweet came shortly after he told reporters that he was not worried about what the former national security adviser might have said in exchange for a plea deal. However, the tweet proves that he knew Flynn committed a felony – lying to the FBI. Trump’s failure to report the crime could be considered obstruction of justice, which would catapult the Celebrity-in-chief into a pool of legal issues.
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However, just hours after the tweet, Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, told reporters that he drafted the tweet on the Celebrity-in-chief’s personal Twitter account. He also told CNN that he believes White House social media director Dan Scavino posted it online. However, according to the publication, Dowd refused to answer questions about whether Trump looked over the tweet before it went out. He said, “Enough already, I don’t feed the haters.”
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If Dowd, in fact, drafted the tweet for Trump, that would significantly help Trump’s case. While it remains unclear if that’s the case, the Saturday tweet from @realDonaldTrump’s account received widespread backlash.
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“…just couldn’t resist commenting on Flynn,” the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, tweeted. “Are you ADMITTING you knew Flynn had lied to the FBI when you asked Comey to back off Flynn?”
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The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee wrote, “If that is true, Mr. President, why did you wait so long to fire Flynn? Why did you fail to act until his life was publicly exposed? And why did you pressure Director Comey to “let this go?”
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Trump took to Twitter Sunday morning to clear his name once again, tweeting, “I never asked Comey to stop investigation Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!”
