Michael Flynn invoked 5th Amendment to Jan. 6 committee when asked if violence was justified

Former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn refused to answer the House select committee’s inquiries when asked whether he believed the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was justified, officials said Tuesday.

Mr. Flynn, who resigned in 2017 after a short tenure as Mr. Trump’s national security advisor, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination in several questions asked by Rep. Liz Cheney, Wyoming Republican, over whether the violence of the pro-Trump mob was justified and if he believed in a peaceful presidential transfer of power.

“The Fifth,” Mr. Flynn repeated in his video testimony, where he was shown responding to Ms. Cheney’s line of inquiry.

Ms. Cheney, who is the top Republican on the committee, said that Trump confidante Roger Stone also invoked his Fifth Amendment right when he was questioned by the committee.

Mr. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, has remained loyal to Mr. Trump throughout his presidency.

In 2020, Mr. Trump pardoned Mr. Flynn over his guilty plea for lying to federal investigators about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential transition period in 2016.

The Jan. 6 committee’s Tuesday hearing featured testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.