World\Americas

Senate intel panel subpoenas Michael Flynn documents

Updated: 2017-05-11 10:33

Flynn attorney Robert Kelner declined to comment on the newly issued subpoena or say why Flynn declined to provide the information earlier. Flynn had previously been in talks with the committee about agreeing to be interviewed as long as he was granted immunity.

In March, Kelner said in a statement that Flynn had a "story to tell," but said no reasonable person would agree to be questioned by the committee without "assurances against unfair prosecution."Other congressional committees and the Pentagon's inspector general are also separately examining whether Flynn was fully forthcoming about his foreign contacts and earnings from organizations linked to the governments of Russia and Turkey.

The top Democrat and Republican on a House oversight committee have said Flynn likely broke federal law by failing to get approval from the US government to accept foreign payments and not disclosing them after accepting them.

Among the payments they cited were more than $33,000 from RT, a Russian state-sponsored television network that US intelligence officials have branded as a propaganda front for Russia's government. The network paid Flynn for attending a December 2015 gala in Moscow during which Flynn was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Turkish payments under scrutiny are part of $530,000 worth of lobbying and investigative work that Flynn's company, Flynn Intel Group, performed for a Turkish businessman. In March, Flynn and his firm belatedly registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department for the work, acknowledging it could have benefited the Turkish government.

On Wednesday, The Associated Press reported that Flynn is at odds with his former Turkish client over two unusual payments totaling $80,000 that Flynn's firm sent back last year to the client.

Flynn's company, Flynn Intel Group, told the Justice Department in March that the two $40,000 payments were consulting fees for unspecified work. But Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin has told the AP that the payments from Flynn's firm were refunds for unperformed lobbying. The difference matters because Flynn's foreign business relationships and the veracity of his disclosures are under scrutiny by congressional, military and intelligence inquiries.

Associated Press

 

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