Michael G. Flynn, son of President-elect Trump’s incoming national security adviser, was fired after spreading unsubstantiated conspiracy theories on social media, according to multiple reports.
In an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe early Tuesday, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said that Flynn was not involved at all with the transition. But hours later, on a call with reporters Tuesday morning, Trump communications adviser Jason Miller said the younger Flynn had in fact helped his father with “administration and scheduling duties” but that he was no longer working with the transition.
According to an ABC News report Tuesday night which cited two anonymous transition officials, the decision to fire Flynn came from Trump himself. The New York Times, again citing two anonymous transition officials, reported that the firing was related to Flynn’s Twitter postings.
CBS News’ Major Garret reported Thursday that transition officials had not known the extent of Michael G. Flynn’s work for his father, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, and also that Flynn had resigned “[p]ossibly seconds before” being fired.
The younger Flynn was his father’s chief of staff at Flynn Intel Group, a consulting firm, and CNN reported Monday that he had received an official .gov transition email account. He has also been an active purveyor of conspiracy theories and otherwise simply fake news on social media accounts.
“Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many ‘coincidences’ tied to it,” he wrote on Twitter Sunday night.
Hours earlier, a gunman had fired a shot in Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor, in his attempt to “self-investigate” the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which holds that it is at the center of a Clinton-run child sex ring.
It was far from the first time Flynn, or his father, had posted unsubstantiated claims on social media. In March, during the Republican primaries, for example, he tweeted excitedly at conservative anti-hero Ann Coulter, writing “@AnnCoulter HAVE YOU SEEN! Rubio’s coke house, gayish dance troupe, and foam parties” before linking to an unsubstantiated article.
I don’t understand. I thought being batshit crazy was a requirement for this administration.
So, is the Trump admin going to fire everyone who posts conspiracy theories?
Flynn: Trump is showing disturbing signs of too much political correctness. We won based on lies and conspiracy theories. We are nothing without it.
Trump: I want him to head Trump TV and do it from behind with FOX.
Well, then. That takes care of that. No need to engage in further inquiry as to, say, what our future NSC head was doing partnered with someone who trafficked in deranged conspiracy theories in a national security consulting firm who effectively acted as the firm’s executive officer. No need to inquire into our future NSC head’s own penchant for conspiracy theories. Or his reported intolerance for dissent from his batshittery. All is well. We need to ignore this, just as we ignored that PNAC thing no one in the MSM seems to have ever heard of to this very day. Because The People (who count) Have Spoken and we must not question.
They’ll have to fire Trump himself if that’s the case.