10 things you need to know today: December 3, 2017

Trump tweet on Flynn suggests obstruction of justice, Trump deflects obstruction of justice accusations with Comey attacks, and more

President Trump
(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

1. Trump tweet on Flynn suggests obstruction of justice

Saturday morning, President Trump tweeted that he "had to fire" former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn "because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI," a comment The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed sources, was written by Trump's personal lawyer, John Dowd. While Dowd said the tweet "simply paraphrases what [White House lawyer] Ty Cobb said" about Flynn's guilty plea, critics argue it says much more. When Trump fired Flynn on Feb. 13, he only mentioned lies to Vice President Pence, ostensibly learning of the lies to the FBI three days later. If Trump knew about the FBI lies when Flynn was fired, his alleged Feb. 14 request that then-FBI Director James Comey let the Flynn investigation go could be obstruction of justice.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.