U.S. President Donald Trump was allegedly told six days after his inauguration that Michael Flynn, at the time his national security adviser, misled Vice President Mike Pence about phone calls Flynn had with Russia, but failed to tell Pence.
Trump, after he learned of the phone calls, apparently kept his vice president in the dark related to the conversation Flynn had with Sergey Kislyak the Russian Ambassador, cited officials in the White House.
Pence along with other officials have empathically defended the former national security adviser during the weeks that led up to his recent resignation.
A spokesperson for the vice president said that Pence became aware he received less than complete information from Flynn after it was reported last Thursday by a Washington newspaper.
Pence learned of the warnings from the Justice Department to the White House at about the same time.
Pence along with Reince Priebus the Chief of Staff at the White House played big roles in the resignation of Flynn said sources.
On Tuesday, the White House announced that the downfall of Flynn was not due to him discussing with Kislyak the sanctions levied by the White House against Russia, which is a possible violation of a law that is rarely enforced, but that he had denied for weeks he did and had misled the vice president and other senior aides of Trump about what took place in those conversations.
Officials at the White House said they had conducted thorough reviews of the interactions of Flynn, including the transcripts of calls that were secretly recorded by intelligence officials in the U.S. but did not find anything illegal.
Pence was apparently very angry and frustrated over the new revelations.
Sean Spicer the press secretary at the White House said the eroding level of trust due to the situation and a number of other incidents that raised questions was what had led Vice President Pence to ask for the resignation of Flynn.
Spicer added that other incidents had helped to contribute to forcing Flynn out. According to a person who has knowledge of this matter, the incidents includes national security advisor seeking security clearance for his son while the transition was taking place prior to Trump’s inauguration.
