PARDON ME

Michael Flynn Pleads the Fifth in Meeting With Jan. 6 Committee

The ex-national security adviser counseled Trump to declare martial law and instigate fresh elections after it became clear he would lose.

Michael Flynn, ex-national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, invoked his right to remain silent in a deposition before the House select committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Flynn, who reportedly counseled Trump to seize voting machines and invoke emergency powers during a Dec. 2020 Oval Office meeting, “exercised his 5th amendment right to decline to answer the Committee’s questions” on Thursday, attorney David Warrington said in a statement. Flynn had previously sued to block the committee, which is also interested in his public remarks urging the president to declare martial law and force new elections, from seeking his records and testimony. A judge, however, was quick to dampen his efforts, rejecting his request within 24 hours. Flynn has been embroiled in legal troubles for years—perhaps most notably in 2017, when he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the agency’s probe into Russian interference in the previous year’s election. In November 2020, Trump granted him a presidential pardon over the matter.