In December, before Trump assumed office, Flynn talked to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about potentially lifting US sanctions President Barack Obama had just levied on Russia.

Spicer referred to Flynn as a "good man" who President Trump didn't want to smear.

The Flynn case re-emerged to dog the administration on Monday, when Yates testified to Congress that she met with White House counsel Donald McGahn on January 26 and told him that Flynn was compromised and open to possible Russian blackmail. During that telephone chat, they talked about sanctions that President Barack Obama had imposed on Russian Federation as punishment for the Kremlin's meddling in our presidential election.

Democrats criticize Trump for not firing Flynn until February 13 - the day the Washington Post published a story that reported that, contrary to Pence's assertion, Flynn discussed sanctions with Kislyak.

"We felt like it was critical that we get this information to the White House, in part because the vice president was making false statements to the public and because we believed that Gen. Flynn was possibly compromised", Yates said. Both said they had but could not go into detail. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she still has "questions regarding Russia's relationships and connections with Trump advisers and associates". And it took almost three weeks after Yates' exhortation for him to oust Flynn - and then, only because his lies to Vice President Mike Pence got leaked to the press, kicking off a cascading scandal.

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"What if we had just dismissed somebody because a political opponent of the president had made an utterance?" Mr Obama had cautioned against Mr Flynn, whom he fired in 2014 as head of the Defence Intelligence Agency because of his poor record in administration and personnel management.

"We believed that General Flynn was compromised with respect to the Russians", Yates said.

President Trump later fired Yates for refusing to enforce his travel ban.

In the hearing, former CIA Director James Clapper and Yates were questioned about evidence of possible collusion between Trump associates and Russian Federation. Yates should have been out of the DOJ the minute Trump took his hand off the Bible when he was sworn in along with all the other Obama swampers.

Monday, CBS News also confirmed former President Obama counseled then-President-elect Trump to pick another national security adviser immediately after the election.

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Spicer said the decision to fire Flynn, who did not disclose his relationship with Russian Federation and the fact he gave a paid speech there in 2015, was the right one after all the information was reviewed. These sanctions were punishment for alleged Russian meddling in the election to try to help Trump win.

Despite her warnings, Flynn remained in his position for 18 more days (a gap Democrats say is as scandalous as "the 18-minute gap in the Nixon tapes").

Monday, a Senate panel probing the issue heard from former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper for about three hours.

Washington is still reeling this morning after hearing from the former Justice Department official who blew the whistle on President Trump's first National Security Advisor.

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