U.S. national security advisor Michael Flynn has resigned following widespread reports he had misled administration officials about his contacts with Russia.
In a resignation letter Flynn said he had inadvertently briefed then Vice President elect Mike Pence and others with incomplete information regarding his phone calls with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
Reports in the Washington Post and New York Times last Friday said Flynn had discussed with the ambassador the sanctions placed on Russia by the Obama administration, despite denials from the Trump administration that the talks dealt with that subject.
Several Democratic senators had called for an investigation of Flynn, while others urged Trump to fire him and for intelligence officials to review his security clearance.
Nine anonymous people described as current and former U.S. officials told the Post that Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak explicitly discussed the sanctions placed on Russia by the Obama administration after the election hacking scandal.
The calls came at the same time as the Obama administration planned to roll out the sanctions, which raised suspicions by U.S. intelligence officials and initiated an investigation.
美国国家安全顾问迈克尔·弗林辞职。之前出现有关他在与俄罗斯的关系问题上误导政府的大量报道。
弗林在请辞信中说，他不经意地向当时的当选副总统彭斯和其他人通报了他与俄罗斯驻美国大使进行电话通话的不完整信息。
《华盛顿邮报》和《纽约时报》上周五的报道说，弗林与俄罗斯驻美大使讨论了奥巴马政府对俄罗斯的制裁，尽管川普政府不承认谈话内容涉及制裁。
一些民主党参议员要求对弗林进行调查，而另一些民主党人则敦促川普将他解职，并要求情报部门对他的机密许可资格进行审查。
9名据说是现任和前美国官员、但未透露姓名的人士对华盛顿邮报说，弗林和俄罗斯大使谢尔盖·基斯利克明确讨论了奥巴马政府在美国总统大选黑客丑闻后对俄罗斯的制裁。
这些电话是在奥巴马政府计划实施制裁的同时发生的，这引起了美国情报官员的怀疑，并开始进行调查。