By Dan Drollette Jr, February 14, 2017
It’s been an extraordinary time, perhaps best summed up by a newspaper physically located far from Washington, DC. Consider these opening sentences from the UK newspaper The Guardian, concerning recent events: “The national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned late Monday amid a flow of intelligence leaks that he had secretly discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador to Washington and then tried to cover up the conversations.”
“The resignation, with the Trump era less than four weeks old, is the latest and most dramatic convulsion in the most chaotic start to an administration in modern US history.”
“It was far from clear whether Flynn’s departure would steady an inexperienced and feuding White House, or resolve the lingering suspicions about the Trump team’s pre-election contacts with the Kremlin.”
“The White House issued a statement just after 11pm in Washington announcing the resignation, shortly after reports broke that the Trump administration had been warned weeks ago that Flynn might be vulnerable to Russian blackmail.”
And the fallout will probably continue for a while, said The Washington Post, in its “10 Unanswered Questions After Michael Flynn’s Resignation.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times noted that his departure could have multiple, unpredictable, topsy-turvy effects on US relations with Russia, as could be seen in the title of one of its articles: “With Michael Flynn Gone, Russia Sees a Different Trump.”
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