The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame is involved in controversy this week after a decision to induct former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame held a virtual meeting in which members voted to induct Flynn, who served as former President Donald Trump's national security adviser, the Providence Journal reported this week. Flynn was pardoned by Trump near the end of his presidency after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about communications with Russia.
The Providence Journal also reported that several members of the organization submitted letters of resignation over Flynn's induction.
"I find that I am unable to be associated with an organization that would choose to honor a criminal who failed to keep this oath to the Constitution of the United States," former state Representative Denise Aiken said in a letter of resignation that was obtained by the Journal. "The inclusion of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn flies in the face of honorable service."
Flynn has continued to show support for Trump and had his Twitter account banned for spreading misinformation about the 2020 election following the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He encouraged Trump's efforts to attempt to overturn the election results.
Dan McGowan, a columnist for the Boston Globe, also criticized the move on X, formerly Twitter, saying: "My latest column: The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame is tarnishing its reputation by trying to induct Michael Flynn.
"The conspiracy-mongering Christian nationalist who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and became one of the country's most prominent 2020 election deniers around the same time former president Donald Trump pardoned him has been offered a spot in the Hall of Fame alongside everyone from Roger Williams to John Chafee."
"The only thing Flynn has brought to Rhode Island is shame," McGowan wrote.
In a statement to Newsweek, Patrick T. Conley, the former president of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, said that the organization was planning to file a libel suit against the Boston Globe "regarding this vicious defamation." Newsweek asked for more information on what aspects of the column were allegedly libelous.
In another letter obtained by the Providence Journal, former Rhode Island state Senator Bea Lanzi and lawyer John Tarantino wrote: "There is an overall right and wrong in the universe, and what has happened here, in our view, and according to our moral compasses, and consciences, compels us to resign."
Newsweek reached out to Flynn via email for comment.
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