Sean Spicer: Trump wants Michael Flynn to testify in Russia investigations

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March 31, 2017 8:48 PM

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump wanted Michael Flynn to testify in investigations into Trump associates' ties to Russia.

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White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that President Donald Trump wanted his former national security adviser to testify in investigations into possible ties between Trump's associates and Russia.

The former adviser, Michael Flynn, told investigators he would submit himself to be interviewed in exchange for immunity from prosecution, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The FBI and the intelligence committees in the House and the Senate are each separately investigating the ties.

Though offering to testify may have been one legal recourse for Flynn, he has come under scrutiny because he said in an interview last year that asking for immunity in such circumstances "means you probably committed a crime." He was referring to the FBI's investigation into Democratic presidential nominee's Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

Trump himself asked on the campaign trail last year why anyone would need to request immunity if they were not guilty of a crime.

A reporter asked Spicer during Friday's press briefing whether Trump still held such a view.

"He believes that Mike Flynn should go testify," Spicer said. "He thinks that he should go up there and do what he has to do to get the story out."

Spicer said that asking for an immunity deal was "up to [Flynn] and his lawyer to decide."

He later said Trump was "very clear that he wants Mike Flynn to go and be completely open and transparent with the committee, and whatever it takes to do that he is supportive of."

As the national security adviser, Flynn had access to top-secret materials. He was said to have been involved in discussions about potentially lifting sanctions on Russia that were issued in the last weeks of President Barack Obama's administration and imposed because of Russia's "malicious cyber-enabled activities."

Flynn resigned in February after reports revealed he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his phone conversations with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, during Trump's transition to the Oval Office.

David Choi contributed to this report.

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