Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is downplaying the chances that the Senate will try to hold Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena.
“It’s his constitutional right. I don’t criticize anybody for embracing their constitutional rights,” Cornyn, the Senate majority whip, told reporters on Monday.
The Associated Press reported that Flynn would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights and not comply with a Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena for documents and information tied to the panel’s ongoing investigation of Russia’s election interference.
{mosads}Pressed if senators would try to hold Flynn in contempt of Congress, Cornyn added: “No, the Fifth Amendment provides you an absolute right against self-incrimination. That’s something he’s entitled to do.”
Flynn was fired earlier this year after misleading Vice President Pence and other White House officials about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has requested information and documents from several former Trump aides as part of its investigation, which includes potential contacts between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.
Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), who oversee the committee, told reporters late last week that Flynn had at that point not cooperated with their investigation.
But Burr noted at the time that they had not gotten a “definitive answer” from Flynn’s lawyers, and declined to speculate about what the committee’s next step would be.
“I’m not going to go into what we might or might not do. We’ve got a full basket of things that we’re willing to test,” he said Thursday.
House lawmakers have previously voted to hold Obama-era officials in contempt over their actions amid congressional probes. In 2012, members voted to hold then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for refusing to hand over documents on the Fast and Furious scandal. A House panel also voted last year to censure IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
But Cornyn added on Monday that “you can’t criticize somebody for invoking their constitutional rights. I can’t.”
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.), who are both members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have, separately, noted that Flynn has a constitutional right to not testify.
Flynn’s lawyers noted in his letter to Warner and Burr that complying with the subpoena and handing over the requested documents would be a “testimonial act.”
“General Flynn is entitled to, and does, invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against production of documents,” they wrote in the letter.