NO-FLYNN SITUATION

WASHINGTON — Former national security adviser Michael Flynn will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refuse to comply with a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee about Russia, as new documents suggest he lied during his security clearance interview in early 2016.

Flynn will refuse to hand over documents the committee had subpoenaed, and decline to testify in front of the committee.

That comes after the committee refused Flynn’s request for legal immunity in exchange for his cooperation into the probe of Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election. And the House Oversight Committee’s top Democrat released a letter showing Flynn claimed he was paid by “U.S. companies” for a paid speech to Russian government-owned propaganda outlet, when he’d been paid by that propaganda outlet itself. That could be a felony.

“The Oversight Committee has in our possession documents that appear to indicate that Gen. Flynn lied to the investigators who interviewed him in 2016 as part of his security clearance renewal,” Cummings wrote.

Those documents, from March 2016, suggest Flynn made false claims when going through his background check that year.

The former national security adviser is at the center of the controversy surrounding whether anyone in the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. Flynn gave a paid speech to a Russian state-owned propaganda outlet, where he met Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Flynn also failed to register as a foreign lobbyist while receiving a half-million dollars for working on behalf of the Turkish government.

Flynn’s attorneys portrayed him as a victim of bad press, telling the committee in a letter that he “has more than a reasonable apprehension that any testimony he provides could be used against him,” and citing the “escalating public frenzy against him” as a reason for Flynn to not testify.

The refusal to comply could theoretically send Flynn to jail, though that’s highly unlikely on its own. The FBI has already issued separate subpoenas for some of the same documents the Senate Intelligence Committee is seeking.

“While we recognize Gen. Flynn’s constitutional right to invoke the Fifth Amendment, we are disappointed he has chosen to disregard the committee's subpoena request for documents relevant and necessary to our investigation. We will vigorously pursue Gen. Flynn's testimony and his production of any and all pertinent materials pursuant to the Committee's authorities,” Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Republican and Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in a joint statement. While Flynn is refusing to comply with the investigation, a pair of other Trump associates turned over documents to the committee. According to NBC News, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone complied with a committee request for documents pertaining to Russia. Carter Page, another Trump campaign aide, has yet to comply.

While Trump’s supported Flynn publicly since forcing him out of his job, a Trump ally said he was never a fan.

“I think it’s safe to say that Gen. Flynn and I didn't see eyeto eye,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told reporters at a news conference Monday, according to CNN. “I didn’t think that he was someone who would bring benefit to the President or to the administration, and I made that very clear to candidate Trump, and I made it very clear to President-elect Trump . . . . If I were President-elect of the United States, I wouldn’t let Gen. Flynn into the White House, let alone give him a job.”