Trump Now Says He Would ‘Consider’ Rehiring Michael Flynn, Whom He Fired for Lying to His Vice President
President Donald Trump stated at the daily White House coronavirus press conference that he would consider rehiring his former national security advisor, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
“What they did to General Flynn was a disgrace,” Trump said on Thursday afternoon when asked by Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts about new details on the FBI’s investigation of Flynn.
“And I hear even more information came out today, what they tried to do to destroy him and to hurt this presidency was perhaps, in our country’s history, there has never been anything like it. An absolute disgrace,” Trump stated. On December 2, 2017, Trump explained his decision to fire Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and acknowledged that he had not told Vice President Mike Pence the truth about his conversations with a Russian ambassador during the Trump transition period.
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017
“But I’ll rely on what the vice president said. I can say this; I think that you understand this, John, very well,” Trump stated. “What happened to General Flynn should never happen to a citizen of this country.”
Earlier on Thursday, Pence seemed to soften his stance on Flynn, saying he was “more inclined to believe” that the national security adviser had mistakenly omitted his contacts with Russian officials, rather than intentionally lied about them.
Then, in a follow-up, a reporter then asked Trump about Flynn’s future: “You said Michael Flynn would come back even bigger and better, are you going to pardon him? And if so, are you considering bringing him back into your administration?”
“It looks to me that Michael Flynn would be exonerated based on everything that I see. I’m not the judge, but I have a different type of power,” Trump noted, without specifically committing to pardoning Flynn, whose guilty plea remains even as he tries to withdraw it.
“I don’t know that anybody would have to use that power. I think that he is exonerated. I’ve never seen anything like it. What they did, what they wrote, you see this, general, you would not want this happening to you what they did to General Flynn. And it’s just disgraceful.”
“I guess we’ll get to that maybe someday, or maybe not, hopefully, we won’t have to get there,” the president said cryptically.
Then, another follow-up question: “Would you consider bringing him back into your administration?”
“I think he’s a fine man. It’s terrible what they did to him. It’s something that nobody’s asked me, but you’re asking me for the first time; I would certainly consider it, yeah,” Trump responded. “I would. I think that he is a fine man. I think he’s got a great family.”
“He loves his son, I would tell you that his son is around a lot,” Trump continued.
“He loves his son, as people generally do, and they did everything possible to destroy him, and he is still breathing very strongly. But they really hurt him very badly.”
“Very unfair,” Trump concluded.
Watch above, via Fox News.
