Archive for the ‘Fifth Amendment’ Category

Michael Flynn to take the Fifth Amendment and decline Senate subpoena – ABC News

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn will invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to honor a Senate committee's subpoena request for documents relating to Russian interference in the election, a source close to Flynn confirms to ABC News.

The Fifth Amendment gives an individual the right to protect against self-incrimination.

"He will not be producing the documents they sought. He is entitled to decline pursuant to the Fifth Amendment," a source close to Flynn tells ABC News.

To date, Flynn is the only Trump associate whom the Senate has subpoenaed.

Legal experts told ABC News that Fifth Amendment rights do not just apply to someone seated at a witness table. It also allows the individual to decline to produce documents that could potentially be incriminating.

The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Flynn's personal documents on May 10 after the former national security adviser declined to cooperate with their original April 28 request in relation to the panel's investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and its possible ties to Trump associates.

Prior to the April request, Flynn said through a statement from his lawyer that he wouldn't submit himself to questioning from the committee "without assurances against unfair prosecution."

President Trump then weighed in on Twitter, saying that Flynn was right to ask for immunity "in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!"

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on March 31 that the president "believes that Mike Flynn should go testify."

Spicer told reporters that Trump wants Flynn to "go testify, go get it out there, do what you have to do."

Last week, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, said that "Gen. Flynn's lawyers said that he would not honor the subpoena and that's not a surprise to the committee," but Burr's office later put out a statement saying that Flynn's attorneys had not yet gotten back to them.

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Michael Flynn to take the Fifth Amendment and decline Senate subpoena - ABC News

Flynn will invoke Fifth Amendment, source says – Chicago Tribune

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn will invoke his 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination as he notifies a Senate panel that he won't hand over documents in the probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The notification will come in a letter to the Senate Intelligence committee expected later Monday. The person providing details spoke on condition anonymity in order to discuss private interactions between Flynn and the committee.

Flynn's decision comes less than two weeks after the committee issued a subpoena for Flynn's personal documents.

Legal experts have said Flynn was unlikely to turn over the personal documents without immunity because he would be waiving some of his constitutional protections by doing so. Flynn has previously sought immunity from "unfair prosecution" to cooperate with the committee.

The Senate committee is one of several congressional inquiries investigating possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Flynn is also the target of other congressional investigations as well as an ongoing FBI counterintelligence probe and a separate federal investigation in Virginia.

Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, was fired from his position as Trump's national security adviser in February. At the time, Trump said he fired Flynn because he misled senior administration officials, including the vice president, about his contacts with Russian officials.

Members of key congressional committees are pledging a full public airing as to why former FBI Director James Comey was ousted amid an intensifying investigation into Russia's interference with the U.S. election.

In Sunday show appearances, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers said they will press Comey in hearings as to whether he ever felt that Trump tried to interfere with his FBI work. Others are insisting on seeing any White House or FBI documents that detail conversations between the two, following a spate of news reports that Comey had kept careful records.

Comey was fired by Trump earlier this month. The former FBI director agreed to testify before the Senate intelligence committee after the Memorial Day holiday.

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Flynn will invoke Fifth Amendment, source says - Chicago Tribune

Uber is pressuring one of its top executives to comply with Alphabet’s lawsuit – Recode

Uber has officially asked Anthony Levandowski the former head of the companys self-driving efforts and the executive at the center of the Alphabet lawsuit to waive his Fifth Amendment rights and cooperate with a courts order to turn over any files he may have downloaded including those on his personal device.

Levandowski asserted his Fifth amendment rights earlier this year seeking to protect himself if the case becomes criminal which is now a possibility.

Now, Ubers general counsel Salle Yoo is asking him to waive those rights and comply with the courts order to turn over his personal device as well as any downloaded materials he has and the names of all those he ever communicated about these files with. If he doesnt, Yoo reminds him that his employment is at-will.

If you do not agree to comply with all of the requirements set forth herein, or if you fail to comply in a material manner, then Uber will take adverse employment action against you, which may include termination of your employment and such termination would be for Cause, the letter from Uber General Counsel Salle Yoo reads.

Its a major shift in Ubers tone with Levandowski, who has a close working relationship with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

Importantly, thats because the court has ordered Uber to exercise the full extent of [its] corporate, employment, contractual, and other authority to cause them to return the downloaded materials and all copies, excerpts, and summaries thereof to Waymo.

Alphabet has sued Uber and its subsidiary Otto claiming that Levandowski stole 14,000 files that included the design for a key radar technology before leaving the company. Uber has disputed that it used any of Alphabets tech but it doesnt deny Levandowski may have taken the proprietary information.

Notably, Alphabet shifted the focus of its patent infringement claims to a radar prototype that Uber no longer uses instead of those that are still being developed.

Previously, Uber had asked Levandowski to voluntarily recuse himself of all work with the technology in question, lidar. That recusal has since been sanctioned by the court as part of a preliminary injunction the judge granted Alphabet.

Uber has otherwise handled Levandowski with a light touch.

Part of the reason could be that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Levandowski are close. In fact, as we first reported, Kalanick turned to Levandowski around the same time he launched Otto to help get Ubers autonomous cars on the road. The duo, who are also planning to attend the Indy 500 together later this month according to sources, spent a great deal of time together both prior to and during Levandowskis employment.

Kalanick even brought Levandowski along on some of his notoriously long walks, an activity the controversial CEO likes to do while hes thinking, according to a Bloomberg report,

But Levandowskis priorities protecting himself from criminal action has been in conflict with Ubers attempts to do away with this lawsuit and go ahead with its autonomous efforts.

Frankly, we obviously have a conflict here, Ubers attorney Arturo Gonzalez said to Judge Alsup during a closed-door hearing in April.

I would love to put Mr. Levandowski on the stand to explain to you what happened, because I think he has a good story to tell, Gonzalez said. But I can't force him to do that.

Now Uber is asking him to do just that.

The letter reads:

We understand that this letter requires you to turn over information wherever located, including but not limited to, your personal devices, and to waive any Fifth Amendment protection you may have. Also, the requirement that your lawyers cooperate with us and turn over information that may be in their possession may invade your attorney-client privilege. While we have respected your personal liberties, it is our view that the Courts Order requires us to make these demands of you. Footnote 9 of the Order specifically states that in complying with this order, Uber has no excuse under the Fifth Amendment to pull any punches as to Levandowski.

Heres the full letter:

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Uber is pressuring one of its top executives to comply with Alphabet's lawsuit - Recode

Can Michael Flynn Really Defy Congress and Get Away with It? – VICE

It feels like a lifetime ago that Michael Flynn resigned as National Security Advisor. In administration where a scandal is now breaking on an almost daily basis, it's hard to recall something that happened as recently as Februaryeven if it might ultimately define Donald Trump's presidency.

But Flynn remains among the most important players in the mushrooming scandal over whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. Late Wednesday brought a deluge of less than flattering news about the former generalincluding his delaying an anti-ISIS operation opposed by Turkey after receiving cash apparently intended to encourage him to help its government. Then, on Thursday, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, said that Flynn would not complying with a subpoena for documents pertaining to the Russia mess.

An hour or two later, the Associated Press reported that Burr had corrected himself, and that actually, Flynn's lawyers just haven't responded yet.

To make sense of what it would mean for Flynn to simply go rogue and not play ball with Congress, I called up a law professor at the University of Baltimore named Charles Tiefer. In a past life, Tiefer worked in the Senate Legal Counsel's office and handled enforcement cases against organized crime figures, which is to say he's pretty familiar with the the procedures at hand. He said that what's happening right now is very unusual, though noncompliance might be the retired general's only move if he wants to avoid time behind bars.

"It signifies that the former high official expects prosecution," he told me of Flynn possibly not cooperating. "So it's as rare as felons in the Oval Office."

Here's a condensed and lightly edited version of what else we talked about.

VICE: So what would Flynn be thinking if he did ultimately refuse the subpoena? Charles Tiefer: Flynn may be invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege. There was an earlier time some weeks ago when he said that he wanted an immunity deal with the Senate committee, and that often signifies fear of self-incrimination.

Can you game out what's next if Flynn does refuse? Does the Senate Intelligence Committee have the ability to issue a contempt citation like a judge would? It's not clear whether a court will enforce a subpoena against someone with a well-founded fear of prosecution. And Flynn seems to be one of the main targets of the special counsel. He may be left alone with his looming prosecution problems rather than face subpoena enforcement from the Senate.

Now the Senate Intelligence Committee has two choices [if Flynn refuses to cooperate]. They can say they've done as much as is possible with a witness under criminal investigation and facing prosecution and turn to other witnesses. Or the Senate can direct the Senate legal counsel to go to court and seek a court order compelling him to provide his documents. But the Senate is unlikely to do that if his Fifth Amendment claim is valid.

If this goes to court, would Flynn also get the opportunity to argue the subpoena is unwarranted? I don't see any defense for him other than the Fifth Amendment. He would make that argument to the committee, and then if the claim is valid, the committee will not pursue him. This subpoena didn't seek his testimony, it sought his documents. And an individual's documents are not cloaked with a Fifth Amendment privilege. But the Supreme Court has said that requiring an individual to produce his own documents does have a Fifth Amendment protection because of what's called the act of production violates his privilege against self-incrimination. So if he shared his documents with someone else, you could subpoena his documents from that person without there being a Fifth Amendment privilege.

OK, so maybe we can get the documents from someone else. But would a refusal to provide docs suggest Flynn won't ever testify himself? Oh, yes. The committee can require him to show up and take the Fifth Amendment, and indeed congressional committees have done that with officials like Lois Lerner of the IRS in recent years. But committees have also accepted lawyers saying their clients would take the Fifth and not even call them in. In any event, you don't get any information from such a witness.

So Flynn refusing to cooperate might actually not be a crazy move for him?There could have always been negotiations with him had he been willing to cooperate. For example, say he's only concerned about criminal investigation about his payments from Turkey. He could have negotiated an arrangement with the Senate Intelligence Committee in which he gave them whatever documents they had like his personal calendar relating to the Russian matter but not the Turkish matter.

It was worth trying to see whether he had any willingness to cooperate at all. The answer [may ultimately be] no, which would also change how the Congress and the public visualize him. He'd look a lot less like someone caught up in an investigation, and more like a criminal defendant.

Follow Allie Conti on Twitter.

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Can Michael Flynn Really Defy Congress and Get Away with It? - VICE

Rabbi accused of raping student ordered to testify at trial – Santa Cruz Sentinel

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) A rabbi accused of repeatedly raping and molesting a teenage boy has been ordered to testify at a civil trial after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition.

Jury selection for Rabbi Daniel Greer's trial in federal court in Hartford is scheduled to start Wednesday. Jurors could begin hearing evidence later in the day or Thursday.

Greer, 76, remains the principal at the Yeshiva of New Haven school. A former student at the Jewish boarding school, Eliyahu "Eli" Mirlis, now 29, is suing Greer and the school on allegations of sexual assault, infliction of emotional distress and other claims.

Mirlis, who attended the school from 2001 to 2005, also alleges in the lawsuit that Greer sexually abused at least one other male student. The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege sexual assault, but Mirlis wanted to come forward, his lawyer said.

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Greer has denied the allegations and has not been criminally charged. New Haven police say they're looking into a sexual assault complaint filed by Mirlis' lawyer, Antonio Ponvert III.

Greer and his lawyers, David Grudberg and William Ward, did not return phone and email messages seeking comment.

According to court documents, Greer invoked his right against self-incrimination at a deposition last year. His lawyers asked a judge to bar Mirlis from calling Greer to the witness stand, but the request was denied.

"Parading Mr. Greer before the jury to repeatedly invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege will only serve to paint him as 'a criminal who has probably eluded justice' in the eyes of the finders of fact, which will cause significant and irreparable prejudice in this case," Grudberg and Ward wrote in a motion filed last month, adding that Greer also would invoke his Fifth Amendment right if called to testify.

Although Judge Michael P. Shea denied the request this month, he said Greer's lawyers could object to specific questions to prevent Greer from having to repeatedly take the Fifth on the stand.

Ward has questioned why Mirlis came forward with the allegations years later and did not take the matter before a rabbinical arbitration court. He said the allegations have damaged Greer, his family and the good reputation he spent years building in the community.

Greer is a graduate of Princeton and Yale Law School who has testified before the state legislature several times on a variety of issues, including opposing same-sex unions in 2002 before the state approved same-sex marriage. He also is a former member of the New Haven police commissioners' board and a past chairman of the New Haven Redevelopment Agency.

He also led efforts to improve New Haven's Edgewood neighborhood.

Greer's daughter was among a group of Orthodox Jewish students who sued Yale University in the late 1990s, claiming the school's requirement that they live in coed dorms violated their constitutional rights. A federal judge disagreed and dismissed the lawsuit.

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Rabbi accused of raping student ordered to testify at trial - Santa Cruz Sentinel