Intel Committees To Michael Flynn: LOL YOU ARE *SO* FUCKED
GO TO JAIL
Funny thing about Congressional committees: When they request documents, or when they dole out subpoenas for documents -- like the Senate Intelligence Committee did to Donald Trump's best foreign agent pal Michael Flynn when he refused to hand over all his documents on getting paid big bucks to do foreign agent stuff -- they really really really REALLY don't like being blown off. Flynn blew the Senate Intel Committee off on Monday, pleading the Fifth and saying through his lawyer that he would be ignoring the committee's subpoena.
So the Senate Intel Committee, it is pissed! Republican and Democratic committee leaders Richard Burr and Mark Warner announced Tuesday that, instead of doing subpoenas to Michael Flynn The Person, they would now do subpoenas to Flynn's companies, because it's real darn hard for companies to plead the Fifth. His companies might be "people" inasmuch as they are allowed to refuse to give the Senate Intel Committee slut pills, like a common Hobby Lobby, but GIVE US THE FUCKING DOCUMENTS RIGHT NOW, ASSHOLE:
“A business does not have the right to take the Fifth,” Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), the committee’s lead Democrat, told reporters as he and chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) pledged to “keep all options on the table.”
Burr and Warner announced they would subpoena documents from the two Flynn businesses they were aware of — Flynn Intel LLC and Flynn Intel Inc., both based in Alexandria, Va.
They are also sending a letter to Flynn’s lawyers challenging them on “whether Flynn can take the Fifth as it relates to document production,” and itemizing more specifically what documents they want Flynn to furnish.
The WaPo notes that Burr is holding off on talk of holding Flynn in contempt of Congress FOR NOW, while the committee exhausts other options, but Burr said that "at the end of that option, there’s a contempt charge.”
Flynn's lawyer had argued that he has a right to take the Fifth on the documents, because they are "testimonial" documents, and also complained that the committee's request was too "broad." Burr and Warner were like PFFFFFFFT:
Committee leaders were frustrated with that response and changed the request in a seeming attempt to call Flynn’s lawyers’ bluff.
“We’ve been very specific in the documents now that we have requested from General Flynn,” Burr said.
We lawsplained you on Monday where the Senate Intel Committee could go from here, if Flynn continues to be a little shit. One option is to ask the Justice Department to prosecute, but Greg Sargent reports that a little Democratic birdie told him their more likely course of action would be to get the Senate's own counsel to sue for the documents, something the whole Senate would have to vote on. Yes, we know the Senate is controlled by Republicans, but remember that thing we said at the top about how hell hath no fury like a Congressional committee scorned.
WaPo notes that the existence of a special counsel is also making things weird right now:
It is also unclear how much the recent appointment of Robert S. Mueller III as special counsel will affect the committee’s ability to compel Flynn’s testimony and production of documents. Flynn’s attorneys cited Mueller’s appointment as a reason against complying with the subpoena, concluding in a letter to Burr and Warner that it raised the chances Flynn’s testimony could be used against him, “giving rise to a constitutional right not to testify.”
So! Wonder if anything else is going on OH HEY HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE! You are taking a break from Googling sunglasses capable of blocking out the shiny and harmful rays that come off of Trey Gowdy's gross head and would like to make with some subpoenas too? Tell us, Politico!
The House will join the Senate in slapping subpoenas on Michael Flynn, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, whose panel is investigating Russia’s meddling in the presidential election, said he hoped the committee’s subpoenas to President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser would go out this week.
“We initially requested his voluntary participation,” Schiff said at a breakfast with reporters. “He declined. We are going to be subpoenaing him.”
Schiff told MSNBC that his committee will also be subpoenaing Flynn's businesses, and said hey maybe if Michael Flynn decides to fuck around with them, they could hold him in contempt too.
Wherever this all leads, it sure does sound like a bunch of people have just about had it with Flynn's shit, and they are ready to lock him the fuck up if he doesn't act right. That is, unless the Republicans who chair these committees come down with a bad case of "I AM SUCH A PUSSY!" and decide to back down just when the fight is getting good. Who even knows at this point?
We do not know, we are simple recipe bloggers.
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[ Washington Post / Politico ]