OUT: Michael Flynn Resigns As National Security Advisor

BREAKING: Flynn resigns, CNN reports

— Jon Passantino (@passantino) February 14, 2017

Michael T. Flynn has resigned as National Security Advisor, per CNN.

As reported earlier, President Trump and advisor Steve Bannon had reportedly been weighing firing Mike Flynn, after Trump was reportedly warned by the DOJ that Flynn was “Vulnerable to Russian Blackmail.” This comes after reports surfaced of pre-inauguration conversations Flynn reportedly had with Russia discussing sanctions put in place in response to Russia’s alleged involvement in hacking the US Election.

On Monday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway stated that Flynn “does enjoy the full confidence of the President” – a statement which was cautiously walked back a short while later by Sean Spicer, who downgraded it to Trump “evaluating” the situation.

While Flynn’s reported pre-inaugural conversation with Russia wasn’t groundbreaking in terms of precedent, Reuters columnist Tim Weiner describes why “this time it’s different.”

Was it wrong for Flynn to talk with the Russian envoy? Absolutely not. Kissinger himself met with Boris Sedov, officially a diplomat but actually a spy, at the Soviet Embassy on Jan. 2, 1969, eighteen days before President Nixon was inaugurated and Kissinger became his national security adviser. “Sedov said that the Soviet Union was very interested that the inaugural speech contain some reference to open channels of communication to Moscow,” Kissinger told the president-elect. Nixon took that to heart at his swearing-in. His exact words, addressed to Moscow: “Our lines of communication will be open.”

The difference between then and now? Kissinger checked in with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover before he went to talk to Sedov. In the context of the Cold War, that constituted the highest security clearance. –Reuters

Flynn’s resignation marks the second Flynn in just over two months to lose their job over stupid shit.