Kevin Johnson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Senate Intelligence Committee announced late Wednesday that it sent a subpoena to former national security adviser Michael Flynn for information about communications with Russian officials that might be relevant to the panel’s investigation into Russia’s interference with the 2016 election.

In a joint statement, Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said that Flynn had declined an earlier request to provide the records voluntarily.

"The committee first requested these documents in an April 28, 2017 letter to... Flynn, but he declined, through counsel, to cooperate with the committee’s request,'' the panel leaders said.

Flynn was fired by President Donald Trump in February, after news reports revealed that the former Army lieutenant general lied to administration officials about his conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the inauguration.

Flynn's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the subpoena.

The committee's request comes as the panel prepares for a Thursday hearing that will feature the testimony of acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and other national security officials.

It will be McCabe's first public appearance since Trump fired Director James Comey, calling into question the future of the the FBI's own investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Trump campaign associates.

Flynn and other former Trump advisers Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Roger Stone also are subjects of the FBI inquiry, the Senate Intelligence inquiry and a separate review by the House Intelligence Committee.

Flynn has offered to provide testimony to the FBI and to the congressional panels in exchange for immunity against prosecution, his attorney has said. But his request was denied by lawmakers and federal investigators, who say it is too early to consider such an offer.

Earlier this week, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates told a separate Senate panel that she was so troubled that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his December conversations with the Russian ambassador that she warned the White House counsel that Flynn was vulnerable to blackmail and could even face criminal charges.

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