And exactly why did President Trump ask for Flynn’s resignation, anyway? At his Thursday press conference, Trump praised the man he just fired and said Flynn did nothing wrong in speaking with the Russian ambassador in late December about sanctions placed on Russia by the outgoing Obama administration. And in fact, the real problem wasn’t Flynn doing his job but the leaks from others in the government that revealed Flynn had spoken with the ambassador about sanctions. But if Flynn’s actions weren’t bad, why was he fired? Trump explained, “he didn’t tell the vice president of the United States the facts” about the nature of those calls. “And then he didn’t remember. And that just wasn’t acceptable to me,” said Trump. A minor mistake for a man the president said was otherwise “doing his job”, and he’s fired for it?

Here’s another unanswered question: What does all this have to do with the Trump campaign’s reported interaction with the Russian regime before the election? Eli Lake points out that Flynn’s involvement in any contact with between the campaign and Russian intelligence has yet to be proven. But the Flynn flap has led to renewed interest in Russia’s potential meddling in the election. Besides the ongoing FBI investigation, Flynn’s firing has prompted leaders in Congress to call for their own inquiries. Senate Intelligence committee members are asking the White House and others in the administration to preserve all documents related to the probe.