Major setback for Donald Trump as NSA Michael Flynn quits

TIL Desk/World/Washington-In a major setback to US President Donald Trump, his national security advisor Michael Flynn, who has been in the job for less than a month, has resigned amid a swirl of controversy.

His resignation comes in the wake of incessant reports that he had spoken to Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak about US sanctions against Moscow, before the presidential inauguration, in December 2016.

While Flynn had maintained that that he had any such conversation with the Russian envoy, it has now come to light that he had misled the Trump administration, notably vice president Mike Pence who had backed his claim, about the conversation, say reports.

The New York Times points out that ‘even the mere discussion of policy — and the apparent attempt to assuage the concerns of an American adversary before Mr. Trump took office — represents a remarkable breach of protocol’.