Michael Flynn ordered to testify before Congress on Sept. 25

[BumRushDaShow]

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 Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, if he does not meet an extended deadline later this month. In a letter to Flynn’s attorneys, panel chairman Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) called Flynn’s 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, Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell refused for a week to “accept service” of the panel’s initial subpoena seeking Flynn’s testimony. Schiff also complained that Flynn’s 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 Trump’s 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 III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Flynn has yet to be sentenced after several delays, initially due to Flynn’s continued cooperation with prosecutors and later due to clashes between prosecutors and Flynn’s 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]

1. I hope Schiff already has his paperwork in order because you know Flynn either won't show up

or if he actually does, his only answer will be name, rank, service number and "I don't recall".

[rurallib]

2. Agreed. Flynn would make a wonderful example of what happens to those who

protect Trump. Go To Jail, Do Not Pass Go!

[EveHammond13]

3. like he's going to show up!

[Grins]

5. Like he's going to say anything if he does... NM

[EveHammond13]

10. he'll be a smirking abusive smartass if he says anything at all

[Arazi]

15. His sentencing judge is watching. We'll see what he does

If he refuses to testify, or doesn't fully cooperate, then #Traitor has offered him a pardon

[ffr]

4. Traitor! n/t

[DeminPennswoods]

6. Doesn't Flynn's plea agreement obligate him to co-operate

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]

8. Seems like his lawyer has engaged in "stalling" tactics

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]

11. also he wants out of his plea deal. maybe he will use this to force govt to break it.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. We'll see... notably if he got some kind of go-ahead for a future pardon

but I think most on this site would agree, if we were him, we might not want to count on that!

[KPN]

19. He wants out of his plea agreement because Mueller is gone, the

Special Counsel’s Office is gone. Barr took care of that. Why wouldn’t he want out of it at this point.

These guys are playing us (Dems) like we’re 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. Flynn’s emboldened by the relative absence of meaningful penalty or enforcement over the past 30 months. Why wouldn’t 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]

20. Right now Flynn's facing the prospect of 0 jail time

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]

21. We shall see. I sure in hell hope you are right.

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]

7. Here's a link to the letter, along with another article on that topic, from Politico.

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000016d-168f-d2a0-a97d-9e8f19b30000

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/09/adam-schiff-michael-flynn-1486508

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Thank you!

[Optical.Catalyst]

13. Shouldn't Flynn be locked up already?

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]

14. Traitor is right. Mueller was way too easy on him. Time to rectify that.

[marked50]

16. Maybe I am missing the most important thing in these sagas.

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]

17. Remember that Congress is not a criminal law enforcement entity

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]

18. He had better show up

He has plead guilty but hasn't been sentenced yet.
Ignoring a Congressional subpoena would make Flym look very very bad before his sentencing...