After only 24 days he spent as US national security adviser, Michael Flynn resigned because of the connections between him and Russia before President Trump assumed presidency. He has become the security adviser who spent the shortest period in the history of the United States. The importance of this resignation is that Flynn is one of the closest to and even most enthusiast for US President. He was an influential adviser during the presidential election campaign.
Flynn is one of the hawks in the US administration, especially with respect to his position towards dealing with terrorism. He believes the United States is losing the global war against “Islamic extremism,” and his career is quite interesting. He has already been removed from his post at the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 for some unknown reason. He said it was about his frank talking about “Islamic extremism”. Some said that the reason was that he refused structural change conducted within the agency. As for his political positions, he moved from the Democratic Party in which he spent most of his career to join President Trump’s campaign, and even allied with him politically after he saw him as a model of the US president. This explains his extreme enthusiasm for him. After Trump’s victory in the presidential elections, Flynn said “We have started a revolution, the biggest election in our nation’s history since George Washington decided not to be king.”
The former National Security Adviser made controversial comments about President Trump. He was also forced to apologize for what he had said, such as what he said during his presidency of the Defense Intelligence Agency about makeup and how it makes women more attractive. In February, he tweeted that fear of Muslims is logical. Before that in July, he told New York Post that the Islamic world represents a complete failure. In August, he gave a speech to an anti-Muslim group in Dallas, describing the Islamic religion as a “political ideology […] [that] definitely hides behind this notion of it being a religion.”
Flynn has expertise in the intelligence world through his work in the US Army for almost three continuous decades, but it seems that this experience did not prevent him from opening suspicious dialogue channels with Russian officials, as media reports suggest that he resigned at the request of President Trump after the decline of trust in him, as he discussed the issue of US sanctions on Russia, with a Russian diplomat, before Trump took office in the White House.
Flynn Resigned before implicating the whole presidential team. Vice President Mike Pence was defending him a few days ago, denying accusations about him, but Flynn admitted that he inadvertently deceived vice president and other persons, providing them with not enough information on his telephone calls with Russian diplomat. The fundamental problem was that Flynn violated the Logan Act which prohibits citizens from performing diplomatic tasks. He had discussed a diplomatic issue with third parties before he officially took office.
The Democratic Party is trying to use the event to discredit Trump himself. John McCain told the Senate and the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee that this resignation was disturbing evidence of the imbalance that currently prevails in the National Security Administration. Senator Roy Blount asked for an investigation into Trump’s relationship with the same Russian officials. The leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, considered that the American people deserve to have complete knowledge of the financial, personal and political relation between Russia and President Trump, and its implications on national security.
There is no doubt that the resignation represents a loss for President Trump, because his national security adviser had shared his views on vital files such as Iran. They agreed on the need to re-negotiate over its nuclear program. The resignation does not mean a decline in the American strict policy toward Iran, because this specifically was a subject of agreement in the administration. Who will succeed Flynn will be on the same line, not to mention that President Trump himself directed the administration into dealing strictly with the mullahs.
The resignation may have a negative impact on President Trump’s administration, but it is more likely that with this resignation, the administration got rid of a heavy burden that had always put it on the defensive, not to mention that Flynn’s relationship with senior officials in the administration were not so good. Flynn did not maintain a good relationship with Secretary of Defense James Mattis and other administration leaders. Also, the resignation worked for President Trump, not against him, as his closest advisers requested taking this step due to loss of confidence in him. This gave the American public opinion a good impression that the president is neither flattering nor favoring anyone but is taking decisions in line with the interests of the country, regardless of any other considerations.
Will the communications file with Russia be closed following the resignation of Flynn? Will allegations of Russia’s intervention in the US presidential election campaign stop? Or the resignation is just the beginning of more charges, with perhaps other consequences?
