IN REFUSING SENATE SUBPOENA, FLYNN INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT
Investigators sought info on contacts with Russian officials
Embattled former WASHINGTON national security adviser Michael Flynn asserted his right against self-incrimination in declining to provide a Senate committee documents related to its investigation into possible collusion between associates of President Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.
Flynn relayed his decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday.
This month, the panel issued the formal request for data and communication involving the former Army lieutenant general and Russian officials as part of the committee’s investigation. Senate officials asked Flynn in April turn over the materials voluntarily before issuing the subpoena two weeks ago.
In a letter to the committee, one of Flynn’s attorneys, Robert Kelner of the Covington & Burling law firm, wrote, “The context in which the Committee has called for General Flynn’s testimonial production of documents makes clear that he has more than a reasonable apprehension that any testimony he provides could be used against him.”
“Multiple Members of Congress have demanded that he be investigated and even prosecuted,” Kelner wrote in the letter, obtained by the Associated Press. “He is the target on a nearly daily basis of outrageous allegations, often attributed to anonymous sources in Congress or elsewhere in the United States Government, which, however fanciful on their face and unsubstantiated by evidence, feed the escalating public frenzy against him.”
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the panel’s senior Democrat, said they were disappointed by Flynn’s decision.
“While we recognize General 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,” the two senators said in a joint statement. “We will vigorously pursue General Flynn’s testimony and his production of any and all pertinent materials pursuant to the Committee’s authorities.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, DCalif., who serves on the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee, called Flynn’s decision “unfortunate but not unexpected.”
“I believe both the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees should continue to seek other ways to gain access to this information,” she said. “Already, Chairman (Chuck) Grassley and I have sent requests to the White House, FBI and Defense Department for memos, recordings, notes and other documents. The investigation will go on.”
Flynn, whose lawyer did not respond to requests for comment, was fired by President Trump in February after it was revealed that he lied to administration officials about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the inauguration.
Flynn and other former Trump advisers Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Roger Stone are subjects of an FBI inquiry led by former FBI director Robert Mueller.
Flynn offered to provide testimony to the FBI and to the congressional panels in exchange for immunity against prosecution, his attorney said.
His request was denied by lawmakers and federal investigators, who said it was too early to consider such an offer.
Four congressional committees are investigating Russia’s alleged ties to the presidential election: the Senate Intelligence Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
White House officials sought to shift blame to the Obama administration for Flynn’s legal troubles, pointing out that Flynn’s security clearance was renewed under the previous administration.
Congressional Democrats pushed back against that contention Monday, saying documents they obtained show Flynn appeared to lie to investigators who interviewed him in early 2016 as part of his security clearance renewal.
Flynn told investigators that a trip in 2015 to Russia, as well as trips to Japan and Saudi Arabia, were funded by “U.S. companies,” according to a letter sent Monday by Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, to its chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.
Cummings said other documents obtained by the committee “directly contradict” those claims, showing that Flynn received payments from Russia’s state-run network RT to attend a gala in Moscow.