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Michael Flynn declines to hand over Russia documents, pleads the fifth

Disgraced White House national security adviser Michael Flynn has invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination in declining to give documents to a Senate inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

In a letter to the Senate intelligence committee, Mr Flynn’s attorneys justified the decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection by citing an “escalating public frenzy” against him.

The letter also said the Justice Department’s recent appointment of a special counsel had created a legally dangerous environment for Mr Flynn to cooperate with the panel’s investigation.

“The context in which the committee has called for General Flynn’s testimonial production of documents makes clear that he has more than a reasonable apprehension that any testimony he provides could be used against him,” the attorneys wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the Associated Press.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is conducting one of the main congressional probes of alleged Russian meddling in the presidential election and whether there was any collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Mr Flynn was forced to resign in February, after less than a month on the job, for failing to disclose the content of his talks with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, and then misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations.

The Senate committee first requested documents from Mr Flynn in an April 28 letter, but he declined to cooperate with the request.

The US intelligence community concluded in January that Moscow tried to sway the November vote in Trump’s favour. Russia has denied involvement and Trump insists he won fair and square.

Mr Flynn’s letter to the Senate committee stressed that his decision to invoke his constitutional protection was not an admission of wrongdoing, but rather a response to the current political climate in which Democratic members of Congress were calling for his prosecution.

The Senate committee reportedly requested that Mr Flynn provide a list of all meetings and communications he had with Russian officials.

It also asked him to provide all records of his communications with the Trump campaign that “were in any way related to Russia”.

Senator James Lankford, a Republican member of the intelligence committee, said on Twitter that Mr Flynn was within his rights to invoke the Fifth Amendment of the US constitution.

Legal experts earlier predicted Mr Flynn was unlikely to turn over the documents without a grant of immunity because doing so might compel him to waive some of his constitutional protections.

Washington lawyer Nina Ginsberg told the AP that if Mr Flynn turned over any personal records in response to the committee’s subpoena, he would waive his Fifth Amendment rights regarding those documents and have to testify about them.

Ms Ginsberg also noted that the committee faces new complications from the Justice Department’s move last week to appoint Mr Mueller as special counsel in the Russia inquiry.

– With agencies

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