Pence: 'I fully support' decision to dump Flynn

Vice President Pence said Monday he supported Michael Flynn's ouster as national security adviser after the retired Army general misled Pence about discussions with a Russian official.

Pence was asked about Flynn's fate at a news conference in Brussels, where the vice president was conducting talks with European Union and NATO leaders.

“I would tell you that I was disappointed to learn that the facts that have been conveyed to me by General Flynn were inaccurate," Pence said in his first public discussion of the matter. "But we honor General Flynn’s long service to the United States of America, and I fully support the president’s decision to ask for his resignation.

"And it was the proper decision, it was handled properly and in a timely way."

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Flynn resigned under fire Feb. 14, less than a month after assuming the post. Flynn had told Pence that sanctions placed on Russia by the Obama administration hadn't been discussed during a December phone call between Flynn and Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Eavesdropping by U.S. intelligence officials undercut Flynn's denial, which Pence had repeated on national TV.

"He didn't tell the vice president of the United States the facts and then he didn't remember, and that's just not acceptable," Trump told reporters. "I fired him because of what he said to Mike Pence."

On Monday, Trump named Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser.