The Trump administration was told not to hire Flynn for the national defense post by the outgoing commander-in-chief immediately following Trump's victory on November 8, 2016.
Obama said he was not "a fan of Michael Flynn," in a November 10 meeting in the Oval Office.
After being one of the first appointees to join the administration, Flynn reportedly lied to Vice President Mike Pence about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.
When asked whether the Trump administration believed Flynn should have retained his clearance, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the issue was "adjudicated by the Obama administration," hence, "that's not really a question for us."
The Obama administration "took no steps to suspend" Flynn's security clearance, Spicer said.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
Spicer added that Trump acted appropriately in ousting Flynn since Trump "felt as though Gen. Flynn misled the vice president."
"The President stands by that today," Spicer said.
On Monday morning, the President commanded White House staff and other aides to stop "feeding negative lines about Flynn to the media," Axios reported.
During the transition period, New Jersey Governor and Trump campaign surrogate Chris Christie also advocated against bringing Flynn onto the new administration, but was rebuffed by Trump.
