Michael Flynn claimed in his resignation letter that he had mistakenly misled the vice-president about the nature of the phone calls to Russia [Image: Win McNamee/Getty Images].

This is the man behind the claims that Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump’s rival in last year’s US presidential election, could not be trusted with national security because she couldn’t be trusted with her private email server.

This is the man who called the Russian ambassador to the US before taking office, talked about Barack Obama’s sanctions against Russia for interfering with the election that ended with Trump in the White House, and then denied talking about the sanctions, even though his conversation had been transcribed.

This led to him allegedly misleading Vice-President Mike Pence, who went on to mislead the American public.

This is the man whose behaviour laid him open to blackmail by a foreign power.

Mr Trump was warned about this by the former acting Attorney General, Sally Yates. What did he do?

He fired her (admittedly, over another highly-controversial matter – his travel ban).

Mr Flynn was allowed to blunder into a hugely embarrassing and compromising situation. Then he was allowed to resign.

Is this what happens when a US president is allowed to fill his administration with people like Mr Flynn?

Are we going to see the United States rot from the inside out, as the poison embodied by these people seeps into the institutions they now inhabit; as the disease they seem to carry is transmitted to the people around them?

How long will this be allowed to go on, before the American people demand an end to the farce?

How bad will the damage be? And who’s next?

The US national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned late Monday amid a flow of intelligence leaks that he had secretly discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador to Washington and then tried to cover up the conversations.

The White House issued a statement just after 11pm in Washington announcing the resignation, shortly after reports broke that the Trump administration had been warned weeks ago that Flynn might be vulnerable to Russian blackmail.

The statement also named retired army general Joseph Kellogg, who goes by his middle name Keith, as acting national security adviser, pending the appointment of a permanent successor. It was reported that a third general, former CIA director David Petraeus, was due to meet Trump on Tuesday.

But Petraeus has legal issues of his own. He is currently nearing the end of two years of probation for sharing classified information with his biographer and lover, Paula Broadwell.

Source: Trump security adviser Flynn resigns after leaks suggest he tried to cover up Russia talks | US news | The Guardian

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