The House and Senate Intelligence committees on Friday temporarily rejected ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s demand for immunity in exchange for his testimony.
A senior congressional official said Flynn’s lawyer was told it was “wildly preliminary,” and that immunity was “not on the table” right now, NBC News reported.
And a spokesman for Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House committee, said the panel had not offered an immunity deal to Flynn.
Flynn had told the committees he would grant an interview about Team Trump’s suspected ties to Russia in exchange for a deal with the Justice Department to not prosecute him.
Meanwhile, Trump returned to Twitter Friday morning to defend his disgraced former aide’s request for immunity — dismissing the congressional probes as a “witch hunt.”
“Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!” the commander in chief tweeted Friday morning.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer would not say whether Trump was trying to pressure the Justice Department or Congress to grant Flynn immunity. The president is not supposed to direct ongoing investigations.
Asked whether Trump was worried about anything Flynn could say, Spicer tersely replied: “Nope.”
Trump’s support for immunity was in contrast to remarks he made during the presidential campaign when aides to Hillary Clinton were granted immunity in the probe over her home e-mail server.
“If you’re not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity for? Have you ever seen anything so corrupt in your life?” he said at the time.
Spicer would not address the contradiction.
In September, Flynn also offered an alternative version of his feelings about immunity on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“When you are given immunity, that means that you have probably committed a crime,” Flynn said about Clinton’s aides.
The top Democrat on the House committee, California Rep. Adam Schiff, said committee leaders would further discuss Flynn’s request with their Senate counterparts and the Justice Department.
“We should first acknowledge what a grave and momentous step it is for a former national security adviser to the president of the United States to ask for immunity from prosecution,” Schiff said in a statement.
Flynn’s attorney, Robert Kelner, said no “reasonable person” would answer questions without assurances that he would not be prosecuted.
“General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit,” Kelner said Thursday.
Flynn in February was forced out as national security adviser after less than a month on the job when it was learned he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about discussions with the Russian ambassador.
In the weeks after he was fired, Flynn and his business retroactively registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents after having contracted with Turkey for $530,000 in lobbying work. The lobbying occurred while Flynn was a top Trump campaign adviser.
With Post Wires