Several members of Donald Trump’s transition team say that the son of his incoming National Security Advisor, Gen. Michael Flynn, is not involved with the president-elect’s transition team after a New York Times report indicated that the younger Flynn was using a .gov email address, indicating some sort of official role within the Trump team.
Throughout the campaign, Michael G. Flynn served as a gatekeeper for his father, and he now appears to have a job with the Trump transition team. Email sent to an address at the Flynn Intel Group returned with an automated response that provided a new email contact for both Flynns, and each had a Trump transition email address that ended with .gov.
Michael Flynn Jr. recently gained notoriety for promoting the #Pizzagate conspiracy, which falsely claimed that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of the Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant in Washington D.C. A gunman eventually turned up at the popular spot to investigate the story on Sunday, though he was quickly detained before anyone could be hurt.
Despite the conspiracy’s complete lack of evidence, Flynn Jr. floated its possible truth by sharing and retweeting fake news stories backing up his claim. Gen. Flynn has yet to comment on his son’s actions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump team from apparently performing a major PR overhaul. Vice President-elect Mike Pence stopped by MSNBC’s Morning Joe to state that Flynn’s son currently has no involvement with their efforts. When the co-hosts asked Pence why Flynn Jr. had a transition email, as reported previously by CNN, Pence simply repeated that the general’s son was no longer involved.
Trump transition spokesperson Jason Miller elaborated on Pence’s comments, noting that Flynn Jr. does not have an official position in the Trump campaign team. “The younger Michael Flynn was helping his father with some administration and scheduling duties early on in the transition process,” he said, adding: “[Flynn Jr.] is no longer involved with transition efforts.”
(Via Morning Joe, Politico and CNN)