Washington: Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's former national security adviser, has offered to be interviewed by House and Senate investigators who are examining the Trump campaign's ties to Russia in exchange for immunity from prosecution, according to his lawyer and a congressional official.
But the congressional official said investigators were unwilling to broker a deal with Flynn – who resigned last month for misleading White House officials about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the United States – until they are further along in their inquiries and they better understand what information Flynn might offer as part of a deal.
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US national security adviser resigns
President Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn resigns after reports he misled Trump administration officials about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the US.
Separately, the White House figures behind the disclosure to Republican House intelligence chairman Devin Nunes of documents suggesting Trump had been picked up in surveillance were revealed, giving insight into a development that has stalled progress in the investigation of links between Trump and Russia.
The revelations rocked Washington even as experts testifying in the Senate described the sustained influence campaign mounted by Russia during the US election.
Flynn's lawyer, in a statement on Thursday evening US time, confirmed discussions with the House and Senate intelligence committees about possible testimony by his client.
The lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not provide specifics about the terms under which Flynn would testify, but said that "no reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicised, witch hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution".
"General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should circumstances permit," the statement said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Flynn's offer to testify.
![Retired Lt-Gen Michael Flynn was forced to quit as national security adviser over leaked phone conversations regarding ...](/web/20170402213642im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/d/9/y/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvaqem.png/1490974293833.jpg)
The FBI is investigating whether any of President Trump's advisers colluded with the Russian government in its efforts to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.
An immunity deal would make it impossible for the Justice Department to prosecute Flynn, who was forced to resign when details of contact he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the election became public.
![Donald Trump with national security adviser Michael Flynn and chief strategist Steve Bannon during a phone call with ...](/web/20170402213642im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/r/g/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvaqem.png/1490974293833.jpg)
It is common for witnesses to demand immunity in exchange for their testimony to ensure that their words cannot be used to prosecute them.
Under federal law, Congress can grant witnesses immunity for their testimony, but lawmakers normally do so only after consulting with prosecutors.
![Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak met Mr Flynn.](/web/20170402213642im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/b/k/1/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvaqem.png/1490974293833.jpg)
Congress normally avoids doing anything that could disrupt a federal investigation.
Federal law allows the Justice Department to delay a congressional immunity deal but not block it outright.
Trump on Friday called the Congressional probe a "witch hunt" and urged Flynn to seek immunity.
Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 31 March 2017
The New York Times reported on Thursday that two White House officials played a role in providing Nunes with documents the Republican committee chairman cited to show Trump and his associates were swept up in surveillance by US intelligence.
Several US officials identified the White House officials as Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a lawyer who works on national security issues at the White House Counsel's Office and formerly worked on the staff of the House Intelligence Committee.
Trump said Nunes' comments about the surveillance helped justify his insistence, made without evidence, that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower in New York, his campaign headquarters.
As investigations into personal links between the Trump campaign and Russia continues, the Senate committee pressed ahead as well.
'Propaganda on steroids'
Russia mounted a campaign of "propaganda on steroids" seeking to influence the 2016 US presidential election, Senator Mark Warner told an intelligence committee hearing on the allegations.
The top Democrat on the US Senate Intelligence Committee listed several areas of concern about possible links to Republican Donald Trump's campaign.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin again denied that Russia tried to influence the election, but in doing so he made reference to the wrong US president in answering a question at an Arctic forum.
"Once, Reagan, while discussing, I think, taxes, told the Americans: 'Read my lips: 'No!'"
His reply recalled what George H.W. Bush told Americans during his 1988 presidential election campaign, "Read my lips: No new taxes." Bush later raised taxes.
Trump has dismissed suggestions of links with Moscow as Democratic Party sour grapes about his surprise November defeat of the party's candidate, Hillary Clinton. US intelligence agencies said Russia hacked emails of senior Democrats and orchestrated the release of embarrassing information to hurt Clinton's campaign.
"I will not prejudge the outcome of our investigation," Senator Mark Warner told an intelligence committee hearing on the allegations. "We are seeking to determine if there is an actual fire, but so far there is a great, great deal of smoke."
Putin also said on Thursday that contacts Russian diplomats had made in the United States were merely part of routine work.
At the hearing, lawmakers warned of the danger that Russia could interfere in elections in France and Germany this year and in future US campaigns. Cyber security experts at the rare day-long public hearing detailed what they described as the dissemination of disinformation and cyber attacks on both Democratic political operatives and Republicans.
Lawmakers and cyber experts mentioned stories that were being spread to discredit German Chancellor Angela Merkel. And they said Britain's "Brexit" vote last year on leaving the European Union should be examined.
Clinton Watts, a security consultant and former FBI agent, told Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican committee member, that he may have been a victim of Russian activity during his unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination against Trump.
Rubio later said he would not comment. But he told the hearing that in July 2016, after he announced he would run for re-election to the Senate, former members of his presidential campaign team were targeted by an unsuccessful cyber attack from Russia.
He said former campaign staffers were also targeted unsuccessfully from within Russia within the past 24 hours.
"We're all targets of a sophisticated and capable adversary," said Senator Richard Burr, a Republican who heads the intelligence committee.
Democrat Warner, who was a technology executive before entering politics, described a sweeping Russian campaign using trolls and botnets, or networks of hacked or infected devices, to spread large amounts of disinformation.
The campaign of "fake news" was particularly targeted at traditionally Democratic-leaning states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where Trump defeated Clinton by narrow margins that were not predicted by opinion polls, he said.
"This Russian 'propaganda on steroids' was designed to poison the national conversation in America," Warner said.
Citing concerns to be addressed in the committee's probe, Warner listed the prediction by a Trump associate about the release of hacked emails weeks before they were released, a change in the Republican Party's platform to water down language on Ukraine, and Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and other Trump associates being forced to step down over ties to Russia.
A separate investigation in the House of Representatives into the intelligence agencies' allegations of a Russian role in the US election has become mired in controversy over accusations that its Republican chairman, Trump ally Nunes, is not impartial.
Nunes and Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House committee, met on Thursday to discuss their investigation. Schiff said the two had discussed obtaining documents before deciding which witnesses to call in.
The New York Times and Reuters