Trump knew Flynn misled officials on Russia calls for weeks: White House

The White House had stated that President Donald Trump was fully aware for weeks, before National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign Monday night, that Flynn had misled White House officials and Vice President Pence about his talks with the Russian ambassador.

Addressing a press conference, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that Trump had been briefed "immediately" about the discrepancy late in January that Flynn, despite his claims to the contrary, had discussed U.S. sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak,

"We've been reviewing and evaluating this issue with respect to General Flynn on a daily basis for a few weeks, trying to ascertain the truth," Spicer said.

However, Spicer's comments contrast with the impression Trump gave on Friday that he was not familiar with a Washington Post report that revealed that Flynn had not told the truth about the calls.

"I don't know about that. I haven't seen it. What report is that? I haven't seen that. I'll look into that," Trump told reporters on the plane.

Spicer further emphasized that "the evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of a series of other issues is what led the president to ask for General Flynn's resignation," adding that the President had an "instinctive" belief that Flynn had not broken any laws.