Story highlights
VP-elect Mike Pence disputed that the controversial son of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn had any involvement with the Trump transition
Michael G. Flynn, the adviser's son, promoted online conspiracy theories and held a transition email address
Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Tuesday denied that the son of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn – who is embroiled in a fake news controversy – had any involvement with the transition, despite the fact that he held an official government transition email address.
“You are saying [Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s] son is not involved at all in the transition?” host Joe Scarborough asked Pence during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“No, no, he’s not,” Pence said. “General Flynn’s son has no involvement in the transition whatsoever.”
CNN’s K-File, however, reported that Flynn’s son, Michael G. Flynn, did have an official government transition email address. An email sent to Lt. Gen. Flynn at an address he used for his consulting group bounced back with a message saying, “This email account will be suspended indefinitely.” The email pointed to official .gov emails for both the older and younger Flynn. An email to Flynn’s son on his consulting group email, which worked last week, also bounced back.
A transition source said of the son: “He helps his father with some administrative and scheduling work and that needs to be run through transition. He isn’t in meetings, doesn’t have a role with hiring or messaging or interacting with” Pence. He “was helping with some scheduling and admin work, but isn’t anymore,” the source added.
On Sunday evening, the younger Flynn defended the baseless “pizza gate” conspiracy, the name given to a theory peddled online that claims the Comet Ping Pong restaurant in DC and its owner were involved in a child sex operation. The owner has vehemently denied the charges. Earlier in the day, DC police arrested a man with a rifle who admitted to coming to the restaurant to investigate the online conspiracy.
“Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many ‘coincidences’ tied to it,” the Flynn son tweeted.
Flynn Jr. has served as his father’s top aide and chief of staff, and regularly shares conspiracy theories, expletive-filled posts, and racially insensitive sentiments on Twitter and Facebook, according to a CNN KFile review of his social media presence – prompting questions and criticism about the level of influence he might wield in the Trump administration. Those concerns were amplified by the emergence of his connection to the so-called “pizza gate” controversy.
CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski contributed to this report.