Flynn looks for deal to talk
Ex-Cabinet official seeks immunity in offer to discuss ties with Russia
WASHINGTON — Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, has offered to be interviewed by House and Senate investigators who are examining the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia in exchange for immunity from prosecution, according to his lawyer and a congressional official.
But the congressional official said investigators were unwilling to broker a deal with Flynn — who resigned last month for misleading White House officials about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States — until they are further along in their inquiries and they better understand what information Flynn might offer as part of a deal.
In a statement Thursday evening, Flynn’s lawyer confirmed discussions with the House and Senate intel-
ligence committees about possible testimony by his client. The lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not provide specifics about the terms under which Flynn would testify but said that “no reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch-hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution.
“General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should circumstances permit,” the statement said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Flynn’s offer to testify.
Smaller players first
The FBI is investigating whether any of President Donald Trump’s advisers colluded with the Russian government in its efforts to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. An immunity deal would make it impossible for the Justice Department to prosecute Flynn.
It is unclear whether any of Trump’s other former advisers have asked for immunity from the congressional committees.
It is common for witnesses to demand immunity in exchange for their testimony to ensure that their words cannot be used to prosecute them. Under federal law, Congress can grant witnesses immunity for their testimony, but lawmakers normally do so only after consulting with prosecutors.
Congress normally avoids doing anything that could disrupt a federal investigation. Federal law allows the Justice Department to delay a congressional immunity deal but not block it outright.
The Justice Department declined to comment Thursday evening.
Some experts cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions about Flynn’s request for immunity.
“At this early stage, I wouldn’t read anything into this request beyond smart lawyering,” said Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who specializes in national security cases. “In such a politically charged, highprofile national security case, I couldn’t imagine not first asking for immunity.”
“I would suspect both Congress and the FBI will first generate additional evidence from smaller players before deciding to immunize General Flynn,” Zaid said.
Accidental confession?
In September, Flynn weighed in on the implications of immunity on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” criticizing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her associates in the FBI’s investigation into her use of a private email server.
“When you are given immunity, that means that you have probably committed a crime,” Flynn said during the interview.
Flynn was fired from his job as Trump’s first national security adviser after it was disclosed that he misled the vice president about a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the transition.
In the weeks after he resigned, Flynn and his business registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents for $530,000 worth of lobbying work that could have benefited the Turkish government.
The lobbying occurred
while Flynn was a top Trump campaign adviser. The Turkish businessman who hired Flynn, Ekim Alptekin, has told the AP that Flynn’s firm registered under pressure from the Justice Department.
Also Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee opened its investigation into Russia’s meddling into the U.S. 2016 election.
Russian experts painted a sinister picture Thursday of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, telling the Senate committee about fake news, cyber trolls, smear campaigns and even slayings they say could have ties to the Kremlin.
The hearing focused on tactics Moscow is thought to employ in spreading disinformation to influence the opinions of Americans and U.S. policy. There were a few unexpected revelations in the more than four hours of testimony from historians, cyber experts and former intelligence officials.
Sen. Marco Rubio, RFla., told his colleagues on the committee that during the previous 24 hours, his
former presidential campaign team was unsuccessfully targeted — for the second time — by hackers at an unknown internet address in Russia. House Speaker Paul Ryan also was targeted by internet hackers recently, said Clint Watts of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Propaganda ‘on steroids’
All the witnesses stressed the magnitude of the Russian disinformation campaign not only in the U.S. but Europe as well. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, called it Russian propaganda “on steroids.” Committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr said the problem is going to require a global response.
“We’re within 30 days of what is a primary election in France. It could be that the Russians have done enough to make sure that a candidate that went to Russia recently, a socialist, made the runoff. We could end up with a pro-Russian government in France,” said Burr, R-N.C. “We don’t know what the effects are going to be in Germany. But we’ve actually seen them (Russia) build up a party in Germany.”
Eugene Rumer from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the Russian work is not always conducted in the shadows.
“That Russian effort is before us in plain sight — in state-sponsored propaganda broadcasts on RT (Russia Today) in countless internet trolls, fake or distorted news spread by fake news services,” Rumer said.
Watts also said no one is talking about the cache of information that Russia still has.
“They hacked 3,000 to 4,000 people. This hacking was pervasive,” Watts said, lamenting how the American people have focused too much on the election season hack of the Democratic National Committee. “They have our information” and could use it later for political purposes.
As the hearing got underway in Washington, President Vladimir Putin weighed in from Russia. He dismissed the allegations as “endless and groundless,” telling reporters that they are part of a U.S. domestic political struggle.