In November former President Barack Obama warned Donald Trump about bringing on Michael Flynn to serve as his national security adviser, according to CNN.
Obama delivered the warning personally, during his Nov. 10 meeting with the president-elect in the Oval Office. Donald Trump and his administration clearly did not adhere to that tip and hired Flynn anyway, only to fire him 24 days into Trump's presidency. Flynn had openly supported Trump on the campaign trail but was fired after he was caught lying to Mike Pence, Trump's pick for vice president, about contacts with Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.
One senior Trump administration official told NBC News that Obama had made it clear to Trump that he was "not a fan of Michael Flynn." Another official suggested that he thought the comment may have been made in a humorous manner. But three former Obama administration officials agreed that Trump had been warned to not hire Flynn and that he was not suitable for post of such magnitude.
This story emerged shortly prior to when former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was set to testify on Monday before Congress "about the concerns she expressed to Trump administration officials about Flynn's contacts with Russian officials, namely with Kislyak," CNN reported.
On Monday Trump took to Twitter to say that he believes that Yates misled officials about Flynn's conversations with Kislyak.
CNN further reported:
Yates, in her role as acting attorney general, warned White House counsel Don McGahn on January 26 that Flynn was lying when he denied — both publicly and privately — that he discussed US sanctions on Russia with Kislyak. It wasn't until weeks later that Trump asked for Flynn's resignation, only after news surfaced that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Kislyak.Yates' testimony on Monday will be the first time she speaks publicly about her warnings to the White House about Flynn.
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