I think Flynn was an Operative for Trump to draw this whole thing of spying and leaking out. He kept his cover even with the VP. So he wasn’t in this for the long haul. Now with all of this out on the table and his mission complete, the lie to the VP was mission cover for his exit.
I agree. Flynn was bait. He was already controversial and despised by some in the US intelligence community. He was, to them, low hanging fruit and an apparently easy target. His mission was to be a ‘wild weasel’ to draw fire. Once his mission was complete he left the airspace.