--- title: Kellyanne Conway: Why Michael Flynn Resigned description: Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday that the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn came because he misled Vice President Pence canonical: https://time.com/4670332/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-resignation/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-14T13:57:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:39.069Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kellyanne Conway: Michael Flynn Was 'Unsustainable' After He Misled VP Pence og:description: "He knew he had become a lightening rod" og:url: https://time.com/4670332/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-resignation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1527dbce64b1d3d3/6988ba40cd1bbaa072703fa3/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Vice President Pence Swears In Betsy DeVos As Education Secretary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kellyanne Conway: Michael Flynn Was 'Unsustainable' After He Misled VP Pence twitter:description: "He knew he had become a lightening rod" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1527dbce64b1d3d3/6988ba40cd1bbaa072703fa3/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kellyanne Conway: Michael Flynn Was 'Unsustainable' After He Misled VP Pence > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: National Security Advisor Michael Flynn Resigns [Watch (HLS stream): National Security Advisor Michael Flynn Resigns](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/l16JcwKD.m3u8) (0:59)  _Published 2017-02-13. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigned from the Trump Administration Monday night, blaming the "fast pace of events" during the transition for his misstatements about phone calls with a Russian ambassador._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 14, 2017 1:57 PM UTC  Kellyanne Conway, senior advisor to President Donald Trump, arrives to attend the swearing-in of Betsy DeVos, U.S. secretary of education, not pictured, inside the Vice President's Ceremonial Office in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, 2017. Kellyanne Conway, senior advisor to President Donald Trump, arrives to attend the swearing-in of Betsy DeVos, U.S. secretary of education, not pictured, inside the Vice President's Ceremonial Office in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, 2017.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 14, 2017 1:57 PM UTC White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday that [national security adviser Michael Flynn](http://time.com/4670208/michael-flynn-resignation-trump-white-house/?xid=homepage) resigned because he had misled Vice President Mike Pence. “In the end, it was misleading the Vice President that made the situation unsustainable,” she said in an [interview with TODAY](http://www.today.com/news/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-he-knew-he-had-become-lightning-t108159) on Tuesday. “The incomplete information or the inability to completely recall what did or did not happen as reflected in his debriefing of particular phone calls — that really is what happened here.” Flynn [resigned Monday night](http://time.com/4670178/michael-flynn-resignation-transcript-letter/?xid=homepage) and said that during the transition, he held “numerous” phone calls with foreign ambassadors, including the Russian ambassador to the U.S. He admitted that he had relayed “incomplete information” to Pence about his conversation with the Russian ambassador. “He knew he had become a lightening rod, and he made that decision,” Conway said on TODAY. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4670332/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-resignation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4670332/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-resignation/"},"headline":"Kellyanne Conway: Michael Flynn Was 'Unsustainable' After He Misled VP Pence","datePublished":"2017-02-14T13:57:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:39.069Z","description":"Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday that the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn came because he misled Vice President Pence","url":"https://time.com/4670332/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-resignation/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1527dbce64b1d3d3/6988ba40cd1bbaa072703fa3/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1527dbce64b1d3d3/6988ba40cd1bbaa072703fa3/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vice President Pence Swears In Betsy DeVos As Education Secretary","caption":"Vice President Pence Swears In Betsy DeVos As Education Secretary","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4670332/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-resignation/","name":"Kellyanne Conway: Michael Flynn Was 'Unsustainable' After He Misled VP Pence"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"National Security Advisor Michael Flynn Resigns","description":"National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigned from the Trump Administration Monday night, blaming the \"fast pace of events\" during the transition for his misstatements about phone calls with a Russian ambassador.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/l16JcwKD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-02-13T16:12:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/l16JcwKD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4670332/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-resignation/","duration":"PT59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4670332/kellyanne-conway-michael-flynn-resignation/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```