--- title: Michael Flynn: Read Attorney Letter on Pleading the 5th description: Michael Flynn's attorneys wrote a letter to the Senate Committee explaining their clients reasons for invoking the Fifth Amendment canonical: https://time.com/4789309/michael-flynn-subpeona-fifth-amendment-letter-read/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-22T20:15:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:03:48.974Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Michael Flynn's Lawyers' Letter Invoking the Fifth Amendment og:description: He's refusing to turn over documents after a Senate subpoena og:url: https://time.com/4789309/michael-flynn-subpeona-fifth-amendment-letter-read/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91e5245eda42b2b1/6988ce5e656a3f3ff5bd01c0/gettyimages-635157390.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3267 og:image:height: 1838 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-FLYNN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Michael Flynn's Lawyers' Letter Invoking the Fifth Amendment twitter:description: He's refusing to turn over documents after a Senate subpoena twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91e5245eda42b2b1/6988ce5e656a3f3ff5bd01c0/gettyimages-635157390.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Michael Flynn's Lawyers' Letter Invoking the Fifth Amendment Over Senate Subpoena > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 22, 2017 8:15 PM UTC  US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn attends a press conference by Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House on February 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn attends a press conference by Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House on February 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 22, 2017 8:15 PM UTC Attorneys for former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who was fired after he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with Russia’s ambassador, sent a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday outlining his decision to [invoke the Fifth Amendment](http://time.com/4788100/michael-flynn-fifth-amendment-subpoena/?xid=homepage) in response to their subpoena. Flynn’s attorneys wrote that by producing documents related to possible meetings with Russian officials Flynn would, in essence, be admitting that such meetings took place. “The context in which the Committee has called for General Flynn’s testimonial production of documents makes clear that he has more than a reasonable apprehension that any testimony he provides could be used against him.” Read the full letter below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4789309/michael-flynn-subpeona-fifth-amendment-letter-read/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4789309/michael-flynn-subpeona-fifth-amendment-letter-read/"},"headline":"Read Michael Flynn's Lawyers' Letter Invoking the Fifth Amendment Over Senate Subpoena","datePublished":"2017-05-22T20:15:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:03:48.974Z","description":"Michael Flynn's attorneys wrote a letter to the Senate Committee explaining their client's reasons for invoking the Fifth Amendment","url":"https://time.com/4789309/michael-flynn-subpeona-fifth-amendment-letter-read/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91e5245eda42b2b1/6988ce5e656a3f3ff5bd01c0/gettyimages-635157390.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91e5245eda42b2b1/6988ce5e656a3f3ff5bd01c0/gettyimages-635157390.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-FLYNN","caption":"US-POLITICS-FLYNN","creditText":"MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4789309/michael-flynn-subpeona-fifth-amendment-letter-read/","name":"Read Michael Flynn's Lawyers' Letter Invoking the Fifth Amendment Over Senate Subpoena"}}]}] ```