President Donald Trump defended former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn in a press conference today.
Trump answered questions after speaking in a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said Flynn had been treated “very, very unfairly by the media, as I call it, the fake media, in many cases.”
Flynn resigned two days ago after admitting he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about the content of conversations he had with the Russian ambassador during the transition. Flynn reportedly spoke of a reprieve from sanctions imposed on the country by President Obama.
Last night, the drama continued after the New York Times broke a story detailing contact between the Trump campaign team and Russian intelligence officials last year before the election.
National security expert Juliette Kayyem says this is not the last we’ll hear about the Russia connection.
“I don’t believe those leaks are the end of what we’re going to find out,” Kayyem said on BPR today. “There will be particular individuals close to Trump who will be named, and then the content of those communications.”
Kayyem said a senate intelligence investigation into the administration’s links to Russia is ongoing, even though it’s not getting much publicity.
“That investigation has subpoena power,” she said. “It cannot be closed by Sessions or the FBI. It is separate and it is moving forward, and what it’s reviewing is quite broad.”
Kayyem also addressed the Times’ point that officials had seen no evidence of collusion. She said the possibility still can’t be ruled out.
“Knowing the intelligence community and knowing law enforcement, they would have put the collusion question to rest as soon as possible if they could, but for over a year, no one is able to put that issue to rest,” she said. “There’s a range of explanations from benign to really nerve-wracking, if not destabilizing, and they’re all still out there.”
Juliette Kayyem is a national security expert, host of the SCIF podcast and founder of Kayyem Solutions. To hear her interview in its entirety, click on the audio link above.
