House Jan. 6 Committee hits Trump with subpoenas for information on his former national security adviser Michael Flynn
President Donald Trump with U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, left, and U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump with U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, left, and U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A special House committee investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election subpoenaed President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, for documents and testimony on Wednesday.
The committee is making its first major move against Trump after a series of explosive House investigations that revealed he was in regular communication with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a close associate and campaign surrogate.
The White House is resisting the effort, which is the first step in what is sure to be a prolonged lawsuit over whether a sitting U.S. president can be investigated.
With the subpoena, the committee sought to turn a spotlight that has been on Trump’s personal lawyer, Don McGahn, into the role Flynn played as national security adviser in the White House. House Democrats said McGahn should be among those subpoenaed to testify.
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Trump has denied any campaign collusion with Russia and has urged Russia to return the stolen documents Hillary Clinton said were “missing” from the Democratic National Committee. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Kislyak.
The committee said it had a bipartisan, independent review of Flynn’s personal financial records and was looking into his business deals. It said that the records “may shed light on Flynn’s potential conflicts of interest in the Trump administration.”
Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, said Flynn didn’t provide any documents and there were no plans to turn over the records.
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed McGahn to provide documents to the panel, but his lawyer said last week that he