23 May 2017•Update: 23 May 2017
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump's former national security will not provide a set of subpoenaed documents to a Senate panel, his lawyers said Monday.
In a letter to the heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Michael Flynn's attorneys said he is invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, adding the retired Army general is the target of near daily "outrageous allegations.
"Which, however fanciful on their face and unsubstantiated by evidence, feed the escalating public frenzy against him," they wrote in a letter posted by The Associated Press.
Committee Chair Richard Burr and Vice Chair Mark Warner subpoenaed Flynn asking for the documents May 10.
Flynn's decision to refuse to cooperate follows his earlier offer to testify in exchange for full immunity - an offer rejected by lawmakers.
He served as Trump's national security advisor for only 24 days before being dismissed by the president amid scandal surrounding his contacts with Russia's Washington envoy. His tenure is the shortest for a national security advisor.
Flynn has been a key person of interest in multiple investigations examining possible collusion between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia's effort to swing the vote in Trump's favor.
The House Oversight Committee's top Democrat said in a letter to Chairman Jason Chaffetz that the committee has documents that appear to show Flynn lied during the process of renewing his security clearance.
“Specifically, the Committee has obtained a Report of Investigation dated March 14, 2016, showing that General Flynn told security clearance investigators that he was paid by ‘U.S. companies’ when he traveled to Moscow in December 2015 to dine at a gala with Russian President Vladimir Putin," Elijah Cummings wrote.
"The actual source of the funds for General Flynn’s trip was not a U.S. company, but the Russian media propaganda arm, RT,” he added.
