Michael Flynn ordered to testify before Congress on Sept. 25
Last edited Mon Sep 9, 2019, 06:24 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Washington Post
The House Intelligence Committee is threatening to enforce its subpoena seeking documents and public testimony from President Trumps former national security adviser Michael Flynn, if he does not meet an extended deadline later this month. In a letter to Flynns attorneys, panel chairman Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) called Flynns effort to comply with lawmakers requests plainly insufficient and accused his lawyers of exhibiting a troubling degree of unprofessionalism in how they had approached negotiations with the committee.
According to Schiff, Flynns attorney Sidney Powell refused for a week to accept service of the panels initial subpoena seeking Flynns testimony. Schiff also complained that Flynns lawyers attempted to direct the committee to collect subpoenaed documents from other congressional panels or the Justice Department, on grounds the requirements were too taxing. The panel demanded Flynn turn over all subpoenaed documents and materials by Sept. 18 and appear for testimony the morning of Sept. 25. Powell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Flynn is one of several figures close to Trump who has caught the attention of congressional investigators examining their interactions with Russian officials. The retired three-star general, who served in Trumps administration and on his transition team, pleaded guilty in late 2017 to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and cooperated with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Flynn has yet to be sentenced after several delays, initially due to Flynns continued cooperation with prosecutors and later due to clashes between prosecutors and Flynns new legal team.
Schiff accused those lawyers of occasionally refusing to speak with panel staffers and attempting to assert an overly broad claim to Fifth Amendment protections. If you intend to assert your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, your counsel must engage with the Committee Staff to discuss the potential subjects of your testimony so that the Committee may determine whether you have a good faith basis to assert your Fifth Amendment right, Schiff wrote. Until that occurs, you remain obligated to appear in person and testify before the Committee.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/michael-flynn-ordered-to-testify-before-congress-on-sept-25/2019/09/09/f0fe5746-d31d-11e9-9610-fb56c5522e1c_story.html
Link to the letter from the Committee - https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000016d-168f-d2a0-a97d-9e8f19b30000 (PDF)
to pnwmom
woodsprite
(11,923 posts)or if he actually does, his only answer will be name, rank, service number and "I don't recall".
rurallib
(62,444 posts)protect Trump. Go To Jail, Do Not Pass Go!
EveHammond13
(2,855 posts)Grins
(7,227 posts)EveHammond13
(2,855 posts)Arazi
(6,829 posts)If he refuses to testify, or doesn't fully cooperate, then #Traitor has offered him a pardon
ffr
(22,671 posts)DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)with all other investigations? I doubt Flynn or his lawyer truly want to abrogate the plea deal and risk a long jail term, but maybe they are dumb enough to accomplish it.
BumRushDaShow
(129,376 posts)by refusing to accept the subpoenas, etc. That may be why Schiff has ratcheted up the demand in order to most likely justify to a court that Flynn would be in breach of the plea agreement due to non-compliance.
EveHammond13
(2,855 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,376 posts)but I think most on this site would agree, if we were him, we might not want to count on that!
KPN
(15,649 posts)Special Counsels Office is gone. Barr took care of that. Why wouldnt he want out of it at this point.
These guys are playing us (Dems) like were clueless amateurs. And they may get away with it. Threatening to enforce a subpoena seems pretty weak to me. How about just doing it enforcing it? Rattle some frigging cages for crying out loud. Flynns emboldened by the relative absence of meaningful penalty or enforcement over the past 30 months. Why wouldnt he be when clear proof is presented by the Special Counsel and everything gets swept seemingly aside. Why wait? Why not seek to extinguish his plea agreement now while the will and power to enforce are apparently absent?
DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)If he decides to stop co-operating, Sullivan will likely throw the book at him. Remember Sullivan told Flynn to co-operate more at the first sentencing hearing after asking the prosecutors if what Flynn did amounted to treason. Flynn should look at Manafort if wants to know the credibility of Trump's "pardon promise".
KPN
(15,649 posts)At the same time, our institutions for justice, ethics and accountability seem to have increasingly failed us over the past 15 years or so.
pnwmom
(108,990 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,376 posts)Optical.Catalyst
(1,355 posts)It is hard to refuse a subpoena when all the authorities have to do is bring the prisoner over to the court from the jail.
Evolve Dammit
(16,759 posts)marked50
(1,367 posts)What is the response for non-compliance that has "teeth"? I hear about all the procedures and requests , step by step, each one longer than the other in any movement. What needs to be front and center now is what will be done that has direct results in some sort of results for non-compliance- jail, longer sentence, forfeitures, etc.
BumRushDaShow
(129,376 posts)so they are forced to go the "civil" route, which is what they have been doing in terms of building evidence to show the non-compliance so at some point, a court can order the compliance or face jail.
backtoblue
(11,345 posts)He has plead guilty but hasn't been sentenced yet.
Ignoring a Congressional subpoena would make Flym look very very bad before his sentencing...