Disgraced ex-National Security Adviser Mike Flynn appears headed for a showdown with the Senate over its demand for records of his relationship with Russian officials.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Thursday that Flynn’s lawyers “said he would not honor the subpoena, and that’s not a surprise to the committee.”
Burr later walked back those remarks, saying he “may have been premature.”
“There may be a day or two left” for Flynn to comply, Burr said.
Flynn was slapped with the subpoena on May 10 after declining a letter a month earlier that asked him to document his dealings with Russian officials between the June 15, 2015, kickoff of President Trump’s campaign and the Jan. 20, 2017, inauguration.
Burr wouldn’t say if he would move to hold Flynn in contempt if his committee doesn’t get the records, which are being sought as part of a probe into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election.
Under federal law, contempt of Congress is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
In February, Trump fired Flynn for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a suspected Kremlin spy.
The following month, Flynn lawyer Robert Kelner said the retired three-star US Army general “certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it” — but only in exchange for immunity.
Kelner didn’t return a request for comment.
But the White House late Thursday branded as “flat wrong” a New York Times report that said Flynn, prior to his appointment as national security adviser, told Trump’s transition team that he was under investigation by the feds for secretly working as a lobbyist for the Turkish government.
Also Thursday, Trump’s campaign was revealed to have had at least 18 previously undisclosed contacts with Russian officials and others with ties to the Kremlin between April and November of last year.
Phone and e-mail records are being reviewed by the FBI and Congress, Reuters reported.
Six of the contacts were calls between Kislyak and Trump advisers, including Flynn, three current and former US officials told Reuters.
Congress has in recent years held a series of high-ranking government officials in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas, including then-Attorney General Eric Holder, who in 2012 failed to cough up records related to the botched “Operation Fast and Furious” gun-running probe.
But the last person actually locked up was former Assistant Commerce Secretary William MacCracken Jr., who in 1934 was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to appear before the Senate and for destroying documents tied to an investigation of Air Mail contacts.
MacCracken appealed to the US Supreme Court, but lost the case and served 10 days in the District of Columbia jail the following year.
With Post Wires