Flynn rejects Senate panel’s file demands

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Monday in rebuffing a subpoena in the investigation into Russia’s election meddling.

Flynn’s decision, which his attorneys announced in a letter sent Monday to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., came as a top House Democrat cited new evidence that he said appeared to show Flynn lied on a security-clearance background check.

With Trump in the Middle East on his first foreign trip as president, investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign — and allegations of collaboration by the Trump campaign — showed no sign of slackening in Washington. Flynn’s decision reflected the high legal stakes he faces as investigations intensify: a U.S. counterintelligence probe of Russia, a federal investigation in Virginia and multiple congressional inquiries.

And The Washington Post reported Monday that Trump asked two top intelligence officials in March to deny publicly that there had been collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign.

Citing current and former officials, the Post said the national intelligence director, Dan Coats, and the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael Rogers, both refused Trump’s request, judging it to be inappropriate.

Flynn’s attorneys told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he will not turn over personal documents sought under the congressional subpoena, citing an “escalating public frenzy.” They also said earlier in the day that the Justice Department’s appointment of a special counsel has created a legally dangerous environment for him to cooperate with the Senate panel’s investigation.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a letter Monday to the panel’s chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, that government documents he’s reviewed showed inconsistencies in Flynn’s disclosures to U.S. investigators in early 2016 during his security clearance review.

Cummings said Flynn appeared to have misled authorities about the source of a $33,000 payment from Russia’s state-sponsored television network; failed to identify foreign officials with whom he met, including Russian President Vladimir Putin; and glossed over his firing as chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency during the administration of former President Barack Obama. Cummings made his points in a letter asking Chaffetz to subpoena the White House for documents related to Flynn.

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