US president defends Flynn's actions as 'lawful' but admits he lied to VP, FBI

US President Donald Trump has defended the actions of his former national security adviser Michael Flynn as “lawful” while also claiming that he fired the general for lying to Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI, in an apparent contradiction to what he stated at the time of Flynn’s dismissal.

"I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!" Trump wrote in a twitter message on Saturday while traveling in New York City for fundraising events.

However, Trump stated in February that he dismissed Flynn because he lied to the vice president without mentioning anything related to what the retired army general and his close confidant at the time had told the FBI.

“I fired him because of what he said to Mike Pence. Very simple,” Trump insisted at a news conference on February 16, three days after Flynn was sacked.

Trump further told reporters earlier on Saturday that his presidential campaign had not engaged in any collusion with Russia, but did not elaborate.

“What has been shown is no collusion, no collusion,” Trump said as he was leaving the White House heading to New York. “There’s been absolutely no collusion, so we’re very happy.”

The remarks by the American president came after Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to federal investigators about the conversations he had with Russia’s former ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition regarding the Kremlin’s alleged election interference.

Flynn, who was a trusted Trump adviser during the 2016 election, said in a statement on Friday that he is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation team, suggesting that he could reveal damaging information about Trump or members of his inner circle.

The White House, however, insisted in a Friday statement that "nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”

According to federal sentencing guidelines, Flynn faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. But Judge Rudolph Contreras announced on Friday that he could be sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Flynn further acknowledged in his statement that his actions "were wrong” and that “through my faith in God, I am working to set things right.”

“My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel's Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions," he added.

According to a number of legal experts cited in US press reports, if Trump knew that Flynn had lied to the FBI and then asked Comey to drop the probe, it could amount to obstruction of justice.

Despite White House’s insistence that Flynn’s guilty pleas would not affect anyone else in the Trump administration, US media outlets are widely speculating on who in the president’s team would be the next target of Mueller’s probe.  

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