Former Donald Trump advisor Michael Flynn sues January 6 House Committee in attempt to dismiss subpoenas

Former President Donald Trump‘s longtime adviser Michael Flynn filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in an attempt to prevent the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol from acquiring his phone records.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Florida, Flynn said that a subpoena issued by the House of Representatives Select Committee on Jan. 6 was overboard and punishes him for constitutionally protected statements he made as a private citizen.

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The congressional committee, according to Flynn, “has no jurisdiction to do business since it is not a lawfully constituted Select Committee.”

An appeals court dismissed that claim on December 9, declaring that the committee was legitimate and entitled to access White House materials that Trump had tried to keep hidden from the public.

In November, the committee issued a subpoena to Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor, demanding testimony and records about a “command centre” at Washington’s Willard Hotel set up to sabotage Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory in November 2020. Trump claims he lost the election due to rampant electoral fraud, which is incorrect.

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Flynn encouraged Trump to use the military to overturn the election results in the weeks following the election and gave speeches casting doubt on the outcome.

A request for response from a representative for the Select Committee on January 6 was not immediately returned.

The complaint filed by Flynn is the latest in a slew of lawsuits filed by committee targets seeking to block the committee from enforcing its subpoenas for testimony or communications.

On Monday, conspiracy theorist and creator of the right-wing website Infowars, Alex Jones, filed a similar lawsuit. 

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Trump has also attempted to prevent the committee from acquiring his White House records from January 6 and the days before, claiming that they are protected by a legal notion known as executive privilege. Last Monday, an appeals court dismissed Trump’s arguments. He is expected to file an appeal with the United States Supreme Court.

Flynn was indicted as part of former US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election in the United States, which Trump won.

In January 2017, Flynn, a retired Army general, pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the US. He later attempted to withdraw his plea, claiming that prosecutors had tricked him into agreeing to a plea deal. He was later pardoned by Trump.