Fox News anchor falsely claims Obama failed to warn Trump about Gen. Mike Flynn

On the May 19 broadcast of Fox News’ The Story, anchor Martha MacCallum asked Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) why the Obama administration failed to warn the incoming Trump administration of potential security concerns regarding Michael Flynn.

In response, Johnson claimed that the lack of warning was evidence of a “corrupt transition process.” However, as was widely reported in media outlets in 2017, Obama personally warned president-elect Donald Trump about security concerns with Flynn two days after Trump’s election.

From the May 19, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum

MARTHA MACCALLUM (ANCHOR): The other thing that I keep going back to, is if in that moment they have genuine concerns based on what has happened on these phone calls with Kislyak, they don't -- you know, the base responsibility is to run the country responsibly and to make that transition of power. So if that were the case, if they were genuinely concerned that there were some compromise or something that was going on that was nefarious on those phone calls, why would they have not told the incoming President of the United States?

SENATOR RON JOHNSON: Because it was a corrupt transition process. No, that's exactly what they should have done. You know, the FBI defensively debriefed Senator Feinstein when they found out she had a potential Chinese agent in her office. They went to her quietly and said "you have a potential problem and should take care of it." That's what the FBI should have been doing throughout the campaign and transition if they had any concerns. And President Trump could have addressed those concerns that point in time. This didn't have to happen. Again, it begs the question what were they up to?

In addition, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified in 2017 that she warned the Trump administration about then-national security adviser Michael Flynn and his contacts with Russian officials.

MacCallum’s claim that President Obama failed to warn President-elect Trump about Flynn comes as right-wing media and Fox News attempt to manufacture a controversy based on Trump’s lies and the prosecution of disgraced Gen. Mike Flynn.

Fox News describes MacCallum's show as a “straight news” show, even though she regularly, as here, pushes GOP talking points.

Fox's Martha MacCallum falsely claims Obama failed to warn Trump about Gen. Mike Flynn

Media Matters weekly newsletter, June 6

Fox News has spent years claiming that Inflation Reduction Act policies will make energy more expensive. It was wrong.

Fox News ignores the projection that nearly 11 million people will lose health insurance from Trump's spending bill

Ben Shapiro says that Tucker Carlson “put out a statement that I think is factually incoherent about Mark Levin's position on Iran and Iran itself”

CNN’s Bill Weir highlights GOP tension as Trump’s clean energy rollbacks threaten 75,000 red state jobs

Martha MacCallum

Fox News

Michael Flynn

Sally Yates