On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer deflected criticism about President Trump's judgment following earlier reports that former President Barack Obama had warned Trump against hiring ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
"It's true that President Obama made it known he wasn't exactly a fan of Gen. Flynn's, which frankly shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone given that Gen. Flynn had worked for President Obama, was an outspoken critic of President Obama's shortcomings," Spicer said. The press secretary then accused Obama of giving Flynn security clearance in the first place, although the Obama administration had fired Flynn in 2014 as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency because of "mismanagement and temperament issues."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Israeli army's 'tourist hikes' in occupied Golan HeightsUnder The Radar 'Provocative' twice-daily tours into territory seized from Syria have quickly sold out
-
The Resistance: Is it finally taking off?Feature Mass protests erupted across all 50 states during the 'Hands Off!' demonstrations against the Trump administration
-
Loomer: Feeding Trump's paranoiaFeature Trump fires National Security Council officials after the conspiracy theorist attended a meeting in the Oval Office
-
Trump says electronics tariff break won't lastSpeed Read The tariff exemptions on smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices are temporary, the administration says
-
Man charged in arson attack on Pennsylvania's ShapiroSpeed Read Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were sleeping when someone set fire to his Harrisburg mansion
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia UniversitySpeed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
-
Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrantSpeed Read The Trump administration must 'facilitate' the return of wrongfully deported migrant Kilmar Ábrego García from El Salvador, Supreme Court says
-
Two judges bar war-powers deportationsSpeed Read The Trump administration was blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport more alleged Venezuelan gang members
-
Trump pauses some tariffs but ramps up China taxSpeed Read The president suspended most 'reciprocal' tariffs for 90 days and raised his tariffs for China to 125%
-
Ukraine nabs first Chinese troops in Russia warSpeed Read Ukraine claims to have f two Chinese men fighting for Russia
-
IRS chief resigning after ICE deal on taxpayer dataSpeed Read Several IRS officials are stepping down after the tax agency is forced to share protected taxpayer records to further Trump's deportation drive
