Jim Lo Scalzo/Carlos Barria/Reuters
President Trump on Saturday said he “had to fire” his former national security adviser Michael Flynn “because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI.” “He has pled (sic) guilty to those lies. It’s a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!” Trump wrote on Twitter. The president’s comments—made after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and agreed to cooperate in the Russia probe—are in stark contrast to his earlier remarks explaining Flynn’s resignation. He has repeatedly defended Flynn in the ongoing Russian investigation, which he has described as a “witch hunt.” In the wake of Flynn’s resignation in February, Trump repeatedly defended him and said he had simply not communicated properly about his interactions with then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislayk. “I don’t think he did anything wrong. If anything, he did something right… He was just doing his job. The thing is, he didn’t tell our Vice President properly and then he said he didn’t remember,” Trump said at the time.