Trump hopes that the resignation of Mike Flynn represents the end of the Russian scandal, but it is likely the first domino to fall in a nightmare that has the potential to destroy a president.
The White House released the full text of Flynn’s resignation letter to reporters including PoliticusUSA:
In the course of my duties as the incoming National Security Advisor, I held numerous phone calls with foreign counterparts, ministers, and ambassadors. These calls were to facilitate a smooth transition and begin to build the necessary relationships between the President, his advisors and foreign leaders. Such calls are standard practice in any transition of this magnitude.
Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology.
Throughout my over thirty-three years of honorable military service, and my tenure as the National Security Advisor, I have always performed my duties with the utmost of integrity and honesty to those I have served, to include the President of the United States.
I am tendering my resignation, honored to have served our nation and the American people in such a distinguished way.
I am also extremely honored to have served President Trump, who in just three weeks, has reoriented American foreign policy in fundamental ways to restore America’s leadership position in the world.
As I step away once again from serving my nation in this current capacity, I wish to thank President Trump for his personal loyalty, the friendship of those who I worked with throughout the hard fought campaign, the challenging period of transition, and during the early days of his presidency.
I know with the strong leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and the superb team they are assembling, this team will go down in history as one of the greatest presidencies in U.S. history, and I firmly believe the American people will be well served as they all work together to help Make America Great Again.
Flynn wasn’t only an appointee. He was a constant presence and a regular warm up act at Trump’s campaign rallies. In his letter, Flynn positions himself as a person who made a mistake, but the truth of the matter is that Flynn’s ties to Russia were never in doubt and regularly reported on during the presidential campaign.
The Trump administration is throwing Flynn under the bus and hoping that they can rely on the one bad apple defense to make the Russia scandal go away. Flynn’s resignation is likely to have the opposite impact. Congressional investigations, especially in the Senate, are only going to have their curiosity heightened by the resignation.
Trump is trying to use Mike Flynn to put the Russian scandal to bed, but like all scandals with the potential to ruin president’s Flynn’s resignation was the finger put into the crack in the dam to try to halt the inevitable flood. The questions about Trump’s relationship Russia didn’t begin, and won’t end with Flynn.
The Russia scandal just got real, as Mike Flynn was the first person to get thrown under the bus, but the bigger questions remain unanswered, and they center around the man occupying the Oval Office.
Trump’s Russia nightmare is about to get a whole lot worse.