White House counselor Kellyanne Conway appeared on Today with Matt Lauer on Tuesday to talk about the resignation last night of Gen. Mike Flynn as President Trump's national security adviser...except she kind of, sort of avoided answering an important question.
WATCH: @MLauer's full interview with @kellyannepolls on departure of #MichaelFlynn https://t.co/PZ1PGtACUY
Flynn resigned Monday night after he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his talks with the Russian ambassador to the US. His resignation came after weeks of speculation about his ties to Russia.
The Justice Department had briefed Trump last month about Flynn misleading officials about the phone call. Then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates — who was later fired by Trump — had warned the president that the department believed Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
Hours before Flynn's resignation, Conway had insisted that the president had “full confidence” in his adviser.
In his resignation letter, Flynn said that “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.”
Conway repeatedly dodged Lauer's questions about why Flynn had continued as the national security adviser despite the Justice Department's warning to the White House last month that he had misled officials and was vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians, finally prompting Lauer to tell Conway her response "makes no sense."
“That makes no sense.” @MLauer to @KellyannePolls while discussing Trump's former national security adviser Michael… https://t.co/C2CtwVJoj3
Conway insisted that Trump accepted Flynn's resignation only because he misled Pence about the content of his conversations with the ambassador.
"The incomplete information or the inability to completely recall what did or did not happen as reflected in his debriefing of particular phone calls — that really is what happened here,” Conway said.
"That fact is what became unsustainable actually. Misleading the vice president really was the key here," she said.
Lauer responded, "You're saying that was the straw that broke the camel's back but the White House knew about that last month when the Justice Department warned the White House that Mr. Flynn or Gen. Flynn had not been completely honest in characterizing that conversation with the Russian ambassador, and they even went further to say that as a result of that dishonesty he was at risk for blackmailing by the Russians."
Conway replied, "Well, that's one characterization. But the fact is that Gen. Flynn continued in that position and was in the daily presidential briefings, was part of the leader calls as recently as yesterday, was there for the prime minister's visit from Canada yesterday, and as time wore on obviously the situation had become unsustainable...and Gen. Flynn..."
"That makes no sense," Lauer interjected. "Last month the Justice Department warned the White House that Gen. Flynn had misled them and that as a result he was vulnerable to blackmail and at that moment he still had the complete trust of the president?"
But Conway continued to dodge the question, saying, "Matt, I'm telling you what the president has said, which is that he's accepted Gen. Flynn's resignation and he wishes him well. We're moving on. There are at least three candidates, very strong candidates, that will be considered for a permanent position here. Obviously Gen. Keith Kellogg is the acting national security adviser starting today and the president is moving forward."