Sen. Richard Burr said he and Mark Warner will discuss options to try and force Michael Flynn to turn over documents. | Getty Flynn hit with two new subpoenas by Senate Intelligence Committee

The Senate Intelligence Committee is issuing two new subpoenas to compel Michael Flynn to turn over documents about his contacts with Russian officials, committee leaders said Tuesday after Flynn stonewalled the panel on Monday.

President Donald Trump's former national security adviser has invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in response to the committee's previous subpoena attempt. Committee leaders are directing the new subpoenas at his businesses, believing they can't plead the Fifth.


“While we disagree with Gen. Flynn’s lawyer’s interpretation of taking the Fifth, it is even more clear that a business does not have a right to take the Fifth if it’s a corporation,” said top committee Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia. Before becoming Trump’s national security adviser, Flynn ran a consulting firm called the Flynn Intel Group.

Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) reiterated that all options remain on the table for forcing Flynn to turn over the requested documents — including holding him in contempt of Congress.

“If in fact there’s not a response, we’ll seek additional counsel advice on how to proceed forward,” Burr said at a joint press briefing with Warner. “At the end of that option is a contempt charge, and I’ve said that everything is on the table.”

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Burr added that the committee has sent a letter to Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, questioning his assertion that Flynn can invoke the Fifth Amendment when it comes to producing documents.

The move is less dramatic than immediately hauling in Flynn and making him assert his Fifth Amendment rights in front of Congress before moving to contempt, but Republicans are divided on how hard to swing at Flynn due to his close relationship with the president. The appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller has also complicated the Senate’s probe into Russian meddling into the election, while taking off some of the pressure that had been weighing on the chamber.

But congressional leaders insist that they will get to the bottom of Flynn’s contacts or he will face the consequences.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that it is his “strong suspicion” that the Intelligence panel will demand that Flynn appear, a move that Schumer is encouraging.

“He ought to comply with the request for documents. There is no immunity of Fifth Amendment rights when it comes to documents and therefore he ought to send those over,” Schumer said on Tuesday. “He should comply and there will be consequences if he doesn’t."