Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was let go from the Trump administration because he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with Russian officials. It has since come to light that Flynn had suspicious ties to the Turkish government. While Pence was seemingly not in the wrong, he has his share of critics who are charging him with incompetence for having no knowledge of Flynn's troublesome background.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) told CNN Friday that he sent a letter to Pence back in November inquiring about Flynn’s connection to the Turkish government. He said that the Trump transition team’s office of legislative affairs acknowledged receipt of his letter and was reviewing it.
“It's either he's not telling the truth or he was running a sloppy shop because we have a receipt, Chris, that says they received the letter. Now, I know things get mixed up in the mail. I got that,” Cummings (D-Md.) told CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
“But when you tell somebody -- you send the letter and it says the person that you are allowing to advise a campaign on security matters, that is getting access to briefings,” is also connected to a foreign government, Cummings continued, “and the same guy who eventually, by the way, became security adviser, the number one guy, getting all of our secrets, somebody should be jumping up and down saying, wait a minute, this is 17 or 20 red lights. Chris, this is not rocket scientist stuff.”
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough also had no sympathy for the vice president supposedly being in the dark about Flynn’s foreign ties, calling him either a “sucker” or a “liar.”
“Mike Pence, the vice president of the United States, is either a sucker and a dupe for Donald Trump — being set up that way to go out and lie and lie and lie again — or he’s a liar.”
“There’s no middle ground,” he added.
Pence stands by his statement that he had no knowledge of Flynn's controversial ties.