FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2017, file
photo, Michael Flynn, then - President-elect Donald Trump's
nominee for National …(AP
Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former National Security Adviser
Michael Flynn will provide documents to the Senate
intelligence committee as part of its probe into Russia's
meddling in the 2016 election, The Associated Press has
learned.
Flynn's decision Tuesday came as President Donald Trump's
personal attorney, Michael Cohen, rejected a House
intelligence committee request for information, and former
White House staffer Boris Epshteyn confirmed he has been
contacted for information as part of the House
investigation.
Meanwhile, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin
sounded similar tones as they criticized the ongoing U.S.
scrutiny of Russia's attempts to sway the presidential
election.
Flynn's cooperation was the first signal that he and the
Senate panel have found common ground. Congressional
investigators continue to press for key documents in the
ongoing investigation, and the retired lieutenant general is
trying to limit damaging disclosures that hostile Democratic
lawmakers could use against him.
Flynn had previously invoked his Fifth Amendment
protection against self-incrimination in declining an
earlier subpoena from the committee, which sought a wide
array of documents and information related to his contacts
with Russia. Flynn's attorneys had argued the request was
too broad and would have required Flynn to turn over
information that could have been used against him.
In response, the Senate panel narrowed the scope of its
request. It also issued subpoenas seeking records from
Flynn's businesses.
One of the businesses, Flynn Intel Group Inc., did
consulting work for a Turkish businessman that required
Flynn to register with the Justice Department as a foreign
agent earlier this year. The other, Flynn Intel Group LLC,
was used to accept money from Flynn's paid speeches. Among
the payments was more than $33,000 Flynn received from RT,
the Russian state-sponsored television network that U.S.
intelligence officials have branded as a propaganda arm of
the Kremlin.
On Tuesday, a person close to Flynn said he will turn
over documents related to the two businesses as well as some
personal documents the committee sought in the narrower
request. Flynn plans to produce some of the documents by
next week, said the person, who spoke on condition of
anonymity to discuss Flynn's private interactions with the
committee.
While the Senate committee awaits documents from Flynn,
Putin and Trump both dismissed the U.S. intelligence
community's conclusion that the Kremlin interfered in the
2016 U.S. presidential election by hacking Democratic
emails.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Putin
reaffirmed his strong denial of Russian involvement in the
hacking. The interview was recorded during Putin's Monday
trip to Paris and released Tuesday. Putin also said the
allegations are "fiction" invented by the Democrats in order
to explain their loss.
Trump made a similar claim in a tweet early Tuesday:
"Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame
excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the
Fake News."
Meanwhile, Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, told the AP
that he turned down a request for information from the House
intelligence committee looking into the Russian
interference.
"I declined the invitation to participate as the request
was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being
answered," Cohen said. "I find it irresponsible and improper
that the request sent to me was leaked by those working on
the committee."
Earlier Tuesday, the AP reported, citing a congressional
aide, that the House intelligence committee had subpoenaed
Cohen. The aide later retracted the statement. Cohen said if
he is subpoenaed, he will comply.
Cohen, a longtime attorney for the Trump Organization,
remains a personal lawyer for Trump. He served as a cable
television surrogate for the Republican during the
presidential campaign.
Cohen told ABC News that he had been asked by both the
House and Senate intelligence committees to provide
information and testimony about contacts he had with Russian
officials.
Cohen's ties with Russian interests came up in February
when The New York Times reported that Cohen helped to broker
a Ukraine peace plan that would call for the withdrawal of
Russian troops from Ukraine and a referendum to let
Ukrainians decide whether the part of the country seized by
Russia in 2014 should be leased to Moscow. The Russian
government denied knowing anything about such a plan.
The Times reported that the peace plan was the work of
Felix Sater, a business associate who has helped Trump try
to find business in Russia, and Cohen.
Cohen was a fierce defender of Trump during the campaign,
often haranguing probing reporters and famously challenging
a CNN reporter live on-air to name the specific polls that
showed then-candidate Trump behind his rival, Hillary
Clinton.
In the early 2000s, he formed his own firm working on a
range of legal matters, including malpractice cases,
business law and work on an ethanol business in Ukraine.
Cohen also owned and operated a handful of taxi medallions,
managing a fleet of cabs in New York.
Cohen's business associates in the taxi enterprise
included a number of men from the former Soviet Union,
including his Ukrainian-born father-in-law.
Cohen has made his own unsuccessful attempts at public
office, losing a city council race and briefly running for
state assembly in New York.
The House intelligence committee has also sought
information from Epshteyn, a former staffer in the Trump
White House.
Epshteyn said in a statement that he has asked the
committee questions to better understand what information it
is seeking and will determine whether he can reasonably
provide it.
Epshteyn, who grew up in Moscow, worked a short time in
the White House press office. He left in March and now works
as a political analyst for right-leaning Sinclair
Broadcasting.
__
Associated Press writers Julie Bykowicz, Eileen Sullivan
and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report. Pearson
reported from New York.
Copyright
2017 Associated Press. All rights
reserved.
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