He can’t be sure, you understand. After all, it was almost two months ago and it was only one of many topics of conversation, but … well ... Flynn had previously stated that he only talked to the Russian ambassador to set up a chat between Putin and Trump, only … that wasn’t strictly true. Or even loosely true. And then Flynn told Mike Pence that one thing he definitely had not talked about was lifting sanctions, but it seems like that was also pretty much a lie.
The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel matter, said Flynn now says he may have discussed sanctions, but cannot be 100% certain.
That’s exactly the kind of certainty and attention to detail you want from your national security adviser in his discussions with foreign officials. However, it doesn’t matter now whether Flynn promised to lift sanctions or not. The really important thing is he said sorry.
The apology was directed most notably to Vice President Pence, who had emphatically denied to CBS News last month that Flynn had discussed "anything having to do with the United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia."
There you go. An apology. So it’s all fine. It’s certainly fine with Republicans in the House.
Yes. This is completely the fault of all those “swamp denizens.” Without them, we’d never have known that the national security adviser was exchanging an unknown number of calls, texts, and emails with the Russian ambassador about unknown subjects. And wouldn’t that really be better for everyone?
We know that Mike Flynn did talk to the Russian ambassador on at least (who knows) occasions about (who knows) things. And when first asked about it, he lied.
But now he’s apologized, and said he can’t remember. Which is the time honored Republican defense.
Former President Ronald Reagan, in testimony made public Thursday, said he had no recollection of ever being told that profits from Iran weapons sales were diverted to the Nicaraguan contras, and that he ``never had any inkling`` White House aide Oliver North was secretly helping the guerrillas.
“I can’t recall…” is the always acceptable Republican response to any question.
So now can Flynn get back to work? He has a lot of phone calls to catch up on.