On February 13, 2017, Priebus told Flynn he had to resign.²¹⁰ Flynn said he wanted to say goodbye to the President, so Priebus brought him to the Oval Office.²¹¹ Priebus recalled that the President hugged Flynn, shook his hand, and said, “We’ll give you a good recommendation. You’re a good guy. We’ll take care of you.”²¹²

Talking points on the resignation prepared by the White House Counsel’s Office and distributed to the White House communications team stated that McGahn had advised the President that Flynn was unlikely to be prosecuted, and the President had determined that the issue with Flynn was one of trust.²¹³ Spicer told the press the next day that Flynn was forced to resign “not based on a legal issue, but based on a trust issue, [where] a level of trust between the President and General Flynn had eroded to the point where [the President] felt he had to make a change.”²¹⁴

7. The President Discusses Flynn with FBI Director Comey

On February 14, 2017, the day after Flynn’s resignation, the President had lunch at the White House with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.²¹⁵ According to Christie, at one point during the lunch the President said, “Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over.”²¹⁶ Christie laughed and responded, “No way.”²¹⁷ He said, “this Russia thing is far from over” and “[w]e’ll be here on Valentine’s Day 2018 talking about this.”²¹⁸ The President said, “[w]hat do you mean? Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It’s over.”²¹⁹ Christie recalled responding that based on his experience both as a prosecutor and as someone who had been investigated, firing Flynn would not end the investigation.²²⁰ Christie said there was no way to make an investigation shorter, but a lot of ways to make it longer.²²¹ The President asked Christie what he meant, and Christie told the President not to talk about the investigation even if he was