President Donald Trump, in responding to the news that the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee was still going after Donald Trump Jr., uttered the same words to defend his son that he used to defend former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Those words? “Very good person.” Both Manafort and Flynn have since become convicted felons.
“My son’s a very good person. Works very hard,” Trump said on Thursday. He would add that he was “very surprised” that the Senate Intelligence Committee would issue a subpoena.
It didn’t take long for people to notice that “very good person” has become a bit of a recurring response to news of legal issues in Trump’s orbit.
Back in May 2017, Trump defended the delay in firing Flynn during an interview with Lester Holt.
“This man (Flynn) has served for many years, he’s a general, he’s a — in my opinion — a very good person,” he said. “I believe that it would be very unfair to hear from somebody who we don’t even know and immediately run out and fire a general.”
Flynn pleaded guilty in Dec. 2017.
You may remember that Trump also admitted to Holt that firing former FBI Director James Comey had to do with “this Russia thing.” Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Trump’s defense attorneys both seemed concerned about the incident in which Trump asked Comey to let the Flynn investigation go.
Trump once called Manafort a “very good person” as well, and called his demise a “very sad day for our country.”
Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators about two conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, while Manafort has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for conspiracy in connection to money laundering allegations and numerous counts of bank and tax fraud.
[Image via JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images]