Democratic leaders cite fake tweets while criticizing Flynn

Chris Wilson


In a statement criticizing the White House and President Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, Democratic leaders in Congress cited tweets from a fake Flynn account.

Tuesday afternoon, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats in the House addressed the press with a joint statement regarding the resignation of Flynn and the lack of an immediate Republican-led investigation into the retired general’s contact with Russia.

[ Timeline: The rise and fall of Michael Flynn ]

“Just this morning, Flynn tweeted and this is a quote, ‘scapegoat,’ end of quote,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings. “Scapegoat. He basically describes himself as a scapegoat. And so I believe we need to hold a public hearing with Flynn to get to the bottom of this.”

Cummings was citing the account @GenMikeFlynn, which has just over 3,000 followers and now includes the term “Parody Account” in the bio. The New York Times and Newsmax Media also cited the account in reports Tuesday.

“I didn’t know until I heard from our colleague that the tweet from Gen. Flynn was ‘scapegoat,’” said Pelosi following Cummings’ statement. “Do you know what a scapegoat is? In a community where people want to absolve themselves of guilt, they get a goat and they heap all of the ills onto the goat and then they run the goat out of town.”

“I have a tweet I’m going to make, and I’m telling my staff right now,” continued Pelosi. “It’s not ‘scapegoat,’ it’s ‘stonewall,’ and it’s exactly what the Republicans in Congress are doing.”

The account for the Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee — of which Cummings is the ranking member — later tweeted an apology:

Flynn had a verified Twitter account, @GenFlynn, but deleted it in January following criticism over some of his posts. Tuesday afternoon the account reactivated, with the last message from December 24. Flynn’s son, Michael Flynn Jr., who was briefly part of the Trump transition team, has tweeted links to conspiracy sites. The younger Flynn departed the team after tweeting an endorsement of “Pizzagate,” the conspiracy theory that resulted in a gunman firing shots at the Washington restaurant Comet Ping Pong.

Flynn Jr. tweeted and then deleted a message Tuesday morning that a “disinformation campaign” against his father had won.

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