Donald Trump blames Michael Flynn's resignation on media, leaks

File image of US President Donald Trump. (Image: Reuters)

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed what he called the “fake media” and “illegal” leaks for the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who had lied to top government officials about his contacts with Russia.

At a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that the media had treated Flynn “very unfairly”.

Trump has asked for Flynn’s resignation because he had lost confidence in him after revelations the National Security Adviser had lied about his conversations with Russian officials, EFE news quoted the White House as saying.

In response to a reporter’s question at the press conference, Trump called Flynn a “wonderful man”, adding that he had been treated very unfairly by the media.

The President also said that the brouhaha over Flynn’s resignation is an attempt to “cover up for (the) terrible loss” suffered by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election.

These were the first comments Trump had made about Flynn’s resignation, which was announced on Monday and which has erupted into a big crisis for his administration.

Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence and other top officials about his contacts with Russia’s Ambassador to Washington Sergey Kislyak with whom he spoke prior to Trump’s inauguration about the US sanctions on the Kremlin that former President Barack Obama imposed before he left the White House in retaliation for Moscow’s interference in the US election.

Trump decided to ask Flynn to resign because he had lost confidence in him after it emerged that the former army general had lied.