Michael Flynn appears destined to spend much more time in the spotlight than he spent working at the White House, where he served as President Trump’s National Security Adviser for three and a half weeks. On Monday, the AP reported that Flynn’s lawyers told the Senate intelligence committee that Flynn would invoke the Fifth Amendment (his right against self-incrimination) and not comply with the committee’s subpoena regarding the investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election. On the heels of that revelation, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings released a letter accusing Flynn of lying about money received from Russian sources when Flynn applied for renewal of his security clearance in 2016.
Flynn, through his attorneys, cited the “escalating public frenzy” and the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller as the reasons for rejecting the Senate committee’s subpoena. Those two factors, the attorneys said, gave their client a “reasonable cause to apprehend danger” should he cooperate. Flynn’s legal right to invoke the Fifth Amendment notwithstanding, the move seems likely to exacerbate tensions between the White House and Congress as legislators in both parties attempt to find answers about Russian meddling in U.S. affairs as well as turn current events to their political advantage.
As Republicans press forward with investigations into the possible Russian connections of President Trump’s associates and presidential campaign, the letter sent by Rep. Cummings to House Oversight and Government Reform committee chairman Jason Chaffetz is likely an attempt to assert the minority party’s role in holding the president and his administration accountable. In addition to accusing Flynn of lying to Defense Department personnel in February 2016 about the source of his compensation for a speaking engagement in Russia, Cummings also took aim at Chaffetz for failing to accede to the demands of Democrats on the committee:
With Chaffetz’s recent announcement that he will resign his seat and leave Congress by the end of June, Cummings may also be looking to set the tone for a new Republican chairman who will be taking Chaffetz’s place.
As for Flynn, his assertion of his Fifth Amendment right Monday stood in marked contrast to some earlier statements by the retired general when others were subjects of investigation. When discussing eventualities in the events surrounding Hillary Clinton’s email woes in September 2016, Flynn said on Meet the Press that “[w]hen you are given immunity, that means you probably committed a crime.” Earlier that year, on June 23rd in response to a tweet from his own son, Mike Flynn Jr., the elder Flynn tweeted:
@HillaryClinton IT specialist takes 5th over 100 times. #Trump2016 #fieldoffight #AmericaFirst https://t.co/5U4R8FQ8JN
— General Flynn (@GenFlynn) June 23, 2016
Flynn’s son also seemed to take issue with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s use of the Fifth Amendment, tweeting a link to a Washington Free Beacon story in October 2016 titled “Attorney General Lynch ‘Pleads Fifth’ on Secret Iran ‘Ransom’ Payments” in 2016.
Since this morning, @GenFlynn‘s son @mflynnJR deleted the tweet I linked to above… here’s a screenshot of an archived copy: pic.twitter.com/wJYnH1nmka
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) May 22, 2017
The tweet, which appeared in the younger Flynn’s Twitter timeline as recently as Monday morning, was deleted later in the day on Monday after the story of his father’s Fifth Amendment invocation began to circulate.
Michael Flynn Jr. did not respond to a request for comment on the deleted tweet.
