A former Obama aide is hitting back at the Trump administration, accusing it of playing an “absurd blame game” over ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“The responsibility in vetting [Flynn] belongs on the incoming administration,” former Obama communications director Jen Psaki said Friday on CNN. “Clearly that wasn’t done. So this is kind of an absurd blame game here.”
“These decisions are not made by political appointees like myself. They’re made by career officials who serve through decades of different administrations with different presidents at the helm.”
{mosads}The White House has tried to sidestep the controversy over Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, who was a dismissed in under a month after it was revealed he had misled White House officials about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador.
Asked if Trump regretted hiring Flynn, White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Thursday noted that Flynn received his security clearance from the Obama administration.
Spicer signaled support for a Defense Department probe into payments Flynn received from foreign groups in 2015, but he blamed Obama’s team for clearing him.
“My only point is when General Flynn came into the White House, he had an active security clearance that was issued during the Obama administration with all the information that’s being discussed that occurred in 2015,” he said.
The House Oversight Committee on Thursday revealed that the Pentagon is looking into payments Flynn received from foreign entities, adding that he was warned against taking such payments when he retired in 2015.
The panel’s leadership said Tuesday that Flynn might have broken the law by taking payments from foreign governments without seeking approval first.
Retired military officers are required to ask permission from the military and the secretary of State before accepting such payments.