NBC
The Today show’s Matt Lauer on Tuesday morning confronted top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway over the White House’s remarkable inconsistencies in defending the handling of a scandal involving Michael Flynn. The national security adviser resigned late Monday over his pre-inauguration calls with a Russian ambassador that included discussion of lifting U.S. sanctions; and over his subsequent lying to Vice President Mike Pence, who unwittingly fibbed on Flynn’s behalf and told the public that the sanctions were never discussed. Conway claimed in Monday’s interview that “the key” to Flynn’s resignation was his “misleading” the vice president. “You’re saying that was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Lauer pushed back, “but the White House knew about that last month, when the Justice Department warned the White House that Flynn had not been completely honest.” After Conway responded with “Well, that’s one characterization, but the fact is General Flynn continued in that position,” Lauer took off the gloves: “Kellyanne, that makes no sense. Last month the Justice Department warned the White House that General Flynn misled them; and that, as a result. he was vulnerable to blackmail. And at that moment he still had the complete trust of the president?” Conway never directly answered that question.