--- title: President Trump Says Michael Flynn Is 'a Very Good Person' description: President Donald Trump continued to fire the aide he fired and said the warnings about Flynn "did not sound like an emergency" canonical: https://time.com/4776697/donald-trump-michael-flynn-defends-good-person/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-11T23:32:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:57:15.692Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Says Michael Flynn Is 'a Very Good Person' og:description: The President said the warnings about Flynn "did not sound like an emergency" og:url: https://time.com/4776697/donald-trump-michael-flynn-defends-good-person/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefc90d1595ccd899/6988cd068fd2ee7a9e357058/michael-flynn-donald-trump-white-house-firing-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5384 og:image:height: 3029 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Says Michael Flynn Is 'a Very Good Person' twitter:description: The President said the warnings about Flynn "did not sound like an emergency" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefc90d1595ccd899/6988cd068fd2ee7a9e357058/michael-flynn-donald-trump-white-house-firing-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Says Michael Flynn Is 'a Very Good Person' > 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. by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams May 11, 2017 11:32 PM UTC  Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaks in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 1, 2017. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaks in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 1, 2017. Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams May 11, 2017 11:32 PM UTC As President Donald Trump faces a mounting number of [government crises](http://time.com/4776388/james-comey-fired-trump-interview/?xid=homepage), he took time to praise Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser was recently subpoenaed by the Senate and [who he fired](http://time.com/4670208/michael-flynn-resignation-trump-white-house/?xid=homepage) earlier this year for misleading the Vice President about contacts with Russia. Trump on Thursday once again defended his delay in firing Flynn, telling [NBC’s Lester Holt](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-defends-delay-firing-flynn-n757991?cid=sm%5Fnpd%5Fnn%5Ftw%5Fma) that Flynn is “a very good person.” There was an 18-day period between when former Acting Attorney General [Sally Yates told the White House](http://time.com/4764293/sally-yates-michael-flynn-congress-testimony/?iid=sr-link1) about Flynn’s communications with the Russians and when Trump asked for Flynn’s resignation. Yates testified on Monday that she warned the Trump White House in January that Flynn [“could be blackmailed”](http://time.com/4771231/russia-sally-yates-donald-trump-michael-flynn/?iid=sr-link2) by the Russians because he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian diplomats. However, Trump said in his interview with NBC News that the warning “did not sound like an emergency” and he wanted to be fair to Flynn. “I believe that it would be very unfair to hear from somebody who we don’t even know,” the President said, referring to Yates, “and immediately run out and fire a general.” Since being fired by the Trump administration, Flynn was [being subpoenaed](http://time.com/4775114/senate-subpoena-michael-flynn-donald-trump-russia/?iid=sr-link1) as part of the Senate’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Senate intelligence committee members previously asked Flynn to turn over documents related to the investigation, but Flynn, through his lawyer, declined to cooperate. That has not changed the president’s opinion of his former adviser. “This man \[Flynn\] has served for many years, he’s a general, he’s a — in my opinion — a very good person,” he told NBC News. Other Trump staffers have made similar comments in recent days, with White House spokesperson [Sean Spicer saying Tuesday](http://time.com/4772895/sean-spicer-michael-flynn-sally-yates/?iid=sr-link6) that Trump would continue to defend Flynn because he “does not want to smear a good man.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4776697/donald-trump-michael-flynn-defends-good-person/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4776697/donald-trump-michael-flynn-defends-good-person/"},"headline":"President Trump Says Michael Flynn Is 'a Very Good Person'","datePublished":"2017-05-11T23:32:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:57:15.692Z","description":"The President said the warnings about Flynn \"did not sound like an emergency\"","url":"https://time.com/4776697/donald-trump-michael-flynn-defends-good-person/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefc90d1595ccd899/6988cd068fd2ee7a9e357058/michael-flynn-donald-trump-white-house-firing-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefc90d1595ccd899/6988cd068fd2ee7a9e357058/michael-flynn-donald-trump-white-house-firing-russia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump","caption":"Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaks in the James S. 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