Michael Flynn to decline Senate subpoena, invoking Fifth Amendment

The former national security adviser to Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, is set to invoke the Fifth Amendment and not comply with a US Senate subpoena.

The Associated Press reported on Monday 22 May after Flynn was subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of their investigation into ties between Flynn, the Trump campaign and Russia.

He had previously offered to testify before the Senate and House Intelligence committees in exchange for immunity, but both declined the offer.

Senate intelligence committee chair Richard Burr (R-NC) said that Flynn was "not cooperating" so far with the committee's investigation, but that he hadn't received a "definitive" answer on whether Flynn would testify.

President Donald Trump's transition team was told weeks before his inauguration that Flynn was under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for the Turkish government.

Despite knowing of the investigation, Trump appointed Flynn his first national security adviser.

It emerged that Barack Obama warned Trump against hiring Flynn.

Flynn, a retired Army general, is one of several of Trump's associates who are being investigated by federal officials for their potential links to foreign governments and Russia's interference into the presidential election.

The Fifth Amendment, in the US Bill of Rights, protects a person from being held for committing a crime unless they have been indicted by the police.

Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer tweeted about people who take the Fifth Amendment back in 2013.