Michael Flynn appears before Jan. 6 panel, invokes Fifth Amendment rights

Former Trump National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. (Ret) Michael Flynn appeared Thursday before the Democrat-controlled House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and exercised his Fifth Amendment rights in response to the panel's questions, his attorney says.

Flynn was subpoenaed to appear before the committee in November, 2021 and was also asked to produce documents and testimony in reference to a Dec. 18, 2020 meeting in the Oval Office, during which the seizure of voting machines was allegedly discussed.

In the letter sent to Flynn by the committee in December, members wrote that he and others discussed declaring a national emergency as part of a plan to promote the message that the presidential election has been "tainted by widespread fraud."

He was also allegedly involved in efforts to draft memos to seize voting machines that Trump ultimately did not sign. 

Flynn was not Trump's national security advisor at the time, having resigned in February 2017 over a matter related to the Russia collusion ordeal.

In December, Flynn filed suit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the select committee seeking "declaratory and injunctive relief" from the subpoena going after his records and testimony. Flynn's legal efforts to quash the committee's subpoenas were thwarted.