Cummings says documents prove Mike Flynn lied on his security clearance

Rep. Cummings (D-Md.) released a letter Monday detailing the documents he says prove President Trump's former national security advisor Mike Flynn lied to security clearance background check.

The senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chair of that committee, relating those discrepancies.

“The Oversight Committee has in our possession documents that appear to indicate that General Flynn lied to the investigators who interviewed him in 2016 as part of his security clearance renewal,” the letter read.

“Specifically," it continued, "the Committee has obtained a Report of Investigation dated March 14, 2016, showing that General Flynn told security clearance investigators that he was paid by ‘U.S. companies’ when he traveled to Moscow in December 2015 to dine at a gala with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The actual source of the funds for General Flynn’s trip was not a U.S. company, but the Russian media propaganda arm, RT.”

Earlier Monday Flynn said that he was pleading his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination in response to a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee in their investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

Flynn was the first victim of Trump administration leaks after he told Vice President Mike Pence that he did not discuss sanctions with a Russian ambassador in a conversation before the election. After Pence defended Flynn publicly, a leaked report revealed the lie, and Flynn was dismissed by the administration over what they described as a "loss of trust."

He was accused by both Cummings and Chaffetz of breaking the law in April over accepting payments from Turkey and Russia, and of failing to request the proper permission from U.S. authorities for the trip to Moscow that was funded by state-owned news outlet Russia Today.

“Personally I see no information or no data to support the notion that General Flynn complied with the law,” Chaffetz said.

“And that is he was supposed to seek permission and receive permission from both the secretary of state,” he explained, “and the secretary of the army prior to traveling to Russia to not only accept that payment, but to engage in that activity. I see no evidence that he actually did that.

It was reported that Flynn was seeking immunity from the FBI in exchange for his testimony, but the offer appears to have been turned down.