Mike Flynn

Donald Trump has been successful at burying potentially the most damaging story of his presidency so far—Russian election interference to benefit him, coupled with ties between his campaign and Russia. But reports that National Security Adviser Michael Flynn discussed sanctions against Russia with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., could put the story back in the news, with Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, calling for Flynn to be ousted.

Flynn had flatly denied talking to Kislyak about the sanctions, imposed by the Obama administration over Russia’s election interference. But—whoops—it turns out Flynn was lying. He did talk to Kislyak about sanctions. Flynn has backed off of his earlier denials, but he’s not the only person who denied that he did what we now know he did.

Mike Pence, for instance, went on Face the Nation and said “They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia” and “I can confirm those elements were not a part of that discussion.” Except those elements were a part of that discussion, so Pence either lied or Flynn was comfortable lying to Pence and he recycled Flynn’s lie. Not a flattering look either way.

Reince Priebus is pretty much the same story as Pence. He assured viewers of Meet the Press that “The subject matter of sanctions or the actions taken by the Obama administration did not come up in the conversation.” Whoopsy! Sean Spicer, too, insisted that he knew what topics Flynn and Kislyak had discussed and that sanctions were not among them. (Apparently Donald Trump hasn’t personally done enough to make Spicer look bad, so Flynn has to get in on the act.)

Serious question, guys: Were you knowingly lying, or did your national security adviser feel comfortable lying to you and causing you to make false statements? Are you dupes, or liars?