GOP Senators Break From White House On Flynn: 'He Told A Bald-Faced Lie'

[DonViejo]

By Matt Shuham

December 19, 2018 11:02 am

Two Republican senators on Wednesday disagreed publicly with the White House’s assertion that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was unfairly “ambushed” by FBI agents before he lied to them about his contacts with Russians after the 2016 election. Flynn himself has disputed that assertion, as well.

“He should have been honest with the FBI, he should have been honest with the White House,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” adding: “I do” think Flynn lied.

“I see no indication that Mr. Flynn was tricked,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said later in the day on CNN. “He told a bald-faced lie.” Kennedy added: “I just think he let the country and the President down.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday reiterated the White House’s position: Flynn “was certainly ambushed and the FBI, that we know had clear political bias, we’ve seen that time and time again,” she said.

-snip-

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kennedy-lankford-flynn-lied-contrary-to-white-house-sanders

[gratuitous]

1. As sanctimonious as these denouncements are

They are absolutely necessary if we're going to get 20 Republican Senators to vote for conviction on articles of impeachment. As much as I'd like to see everyone operating from simon pure motives and joining the side of the angels because they value the Constitution over the party, I'll take every hypocritical, sanctimonious, self-serving vote from Republican Senators to get Trump out of office.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. And Obama warned these people to avoid Flynn as he already had raised serious issues ...

back then. Of course rump and folks didn't.

[pecosbob]

3. and so the edifice began to crumble

[VMA131Marine]

4. So they are still avoiding the obvious

that a senior transition team official instructed Flynn to contact Kislyak and request that Russia not respond to Obama's new sanctions because the Trump administration would take a different course of action. And when the Russians announced that they would not respond immediately, Donald Trump himself put our a tweet or statement praising Putin for his restraint. Trump knew all along what Flynn was up to.