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President Donald Trump reacted on Twitter late Saturday to the guilty plea of his former national security adviser Michael Flynn by asking why Flynn’s “life is destroyed” for lying to the FBI, but nothing has happened to Hillary Clinton after “deleted and ‘acid washed’ 33,000 emails.”
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RELATED: President Trump has officially reacted to Michael Flynn’s guilty plea — here’s what we know
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/937141061343956992
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/937142713211813889
“So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday ‘interrogation’ with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times…and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard?” Trump asked in his first tweet.
The president then questioned the state of the “‘Justice’ Department” in the United States.
“Many people in our Country are asking what the “Justice” Department is going to do about the fact that totally Crooked Hillary, AFTER receiving a subpoena from the United States Congress, deleted and ‘acid washed’ 33,000 Emails? No justice!” he added.
Earlier in the day, Trump responded to Flynn’s guilty plea, as well as the erroneous ABC News report about it which we will summarize below.
President Trump addressed the Flynn guilty plea twice on Saturday before his aforementioned tweets, once to reporters and once on Twitter.
“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!” he tweeted.
Flynn, on Friday, entered a guilty plea and pledged to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
Earlier Saturday, The Washington Post and others reported the president told reporters both that he is not worried about the plea and that he is pleased that “what has been shown is no collusion.
“There’s been absolutely no collusion, so we’re very happy,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Flynn, a 58-year-old retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, accepted responsibility for his actions in a written statement: “My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country.”
Immediately after Flynn’s plea, White House lawyer Ty Cobb sought to put distance between Trump and the ex-aide, saying, “Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”
Trump grew close to Flynn during the campaign. The general was a vocal and reliable Trump surrogate, known for leading crowds in “Lock her up” chants regarding Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. After his election victory, Trump elevated Flynn as his top national security adviser.
But, Flynn’s White House tenure was short-lived. He was forced to resign in February following news reports revealing that Obama administration officials had informed the Trump White House that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a fact at odds with the public assertions of Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump followed with a third tweet, congratulating ABC News for suspending Brian Ross.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/937145025359761408
ABC News, under fire since an erroneous Friday report claiming that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn would testify that the president ordered him to contact Russians while a candidate for president, has responded by suspending ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross for four weeks.
ABC News called the mistake a “serious error,” when before it had attempted a “clarification” and then a “correction.”
This evening we learned Ross has been suspended without pay.
BREAKING: ABC News apologizes for 'serious error' and suspends reporter Brian Ross for 4 weeks over faulty Michael Flynn story
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 2, 2017
New: ABC News has suspended Brian Ross for four weeks, without pay, for his erroneous report about General Michael Flynn.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 2, 2017
As some have pointed out, he essentially gets the holiday season off to spend time with his family. At 69, I think he'll survive without the 4 weeks of pay..he's probably saved up a few bucks. https://t.co/ymSv4uGxc3
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 2, 2017
Yesterday it was just a “clarification,” ABC said. Now it’s a “serious error” https://t.co/V0S8MKjBtm
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 2, 2017
In case you missed it, ABC News made headlines for the all of the wrong reasons regarding its reporting on the Flynn plea. The Washington Post went so far as to call “cowardly” the initial “clarification” released by ABC, a statement that later turned into a “correction.”
RELATED: President Trump reacts to Michael Flynn’s guilty plea
CORRECTION of ABC News Special Report: Flynn prepared to testify that President-elect Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians *during the transition* — initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria, confidant now says. https://t.co/ewrkVZTu2K pic.twitter.com/URLiHf3uSm
— ABC News (@ABC) December 2, 2017
The initial report said that Trump, while a presidential candidate, ordered Flynn to contact Russians.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
