Flynn agrees to provide documents to Senate panel
WASHINGTON — Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn will provide documents to the Senate intelligence committee as part of its probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, The Associated Press has learned.
Mr. Flynn’s decision Tuesday came as President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, rejected a House intelligence committee request for information, and former White House staffer Boris Epshteyn confirmed he has been contacted for information as part of the House investigation.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin sounded similar tones as they criticized the ongoing U.S. scrutiny of Russia’s attempts to sway the presidential election.
Mr. Flynn’s cooperation was the first signal that he and the Senate panel have found
common ground. Congressional investigators continue to press for key documents in the ongoing investigation, and the retired lieutenant general is trying to limit damaging disclosures that hostile Democratic lawmakers could use against him.
Mr. Flynn had previously invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination in declining an earlier subpoena from the committee, which sought a wide array of documents and information related to his contacts with Russia. Mr. Flynn’s attorneys had argued the request was too broad and would have required Mr. Flynn to turn over information that could have been used against him.
In response, the Senate panel narrowed the scope of its request and issued subpoenas seeking records from Mr. Flynn’s businesses. One of the businesses, Flynn Intel Group Inc., did consulting work for a Turkish businessman that required Mr. Flynn to register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent earlier this year. The other, Flynn Intel Group LLC, was used to accept money from Mr. Flynn’s paid speeches. Among the payments was more than $33,000 Mr. Flynn received from RT, the Russian statesponsored television network that U.S. intelligence officials have branded as a propaganda arm of the Kremlin.
A person close to Mr. Flynn said he will turn over documents related to the two businesses as well as some personal documents the committee sought in the narrower request. Mr. Flynn plans to produce some of the documents by next week, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
While the Senate committee awaits documents from Mr. Flynn, Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump both dismissed the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by hacking Democratic emails.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Mr. Putin reaffirmed his strong denial of Russian involvement in the hacking and said the allegations are “fiction.”
“Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News,” Mr. Trump tweeted Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, told the AP that he turned down a request for information from the House intelligence committee looking into the Russian interference.
“I declined the invitation to participate as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered,” Mr. Cohen said.
The House intelligence committee has also sought information from Mr. Epshteyn, a former staffer in the Trump White House.
Mr. Epshteyn said in a statement that he has asked the committee questions to better understand what information it is seeking.
In related news, Mr. Trump on Tuesday tweeted a link to a Fox News report with no byline and a single unnamed source that claimed that Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, did not try to set up a secret line of communication between Mr. Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin during a meeting with Russian diplomats in December after all.