Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, a member of the House intelligence committee, blasted former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's proposed immunity deal.
"Generally, innocent people don't seek immunity," Swalwell told CNN's Don Lemon on "CNN Tonight." "I don't want to hear from him in a setting where there are conditions."
The California congressman was responding to the revelation that Flynn is willing to testify before federal and congressional investigators in their ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the US elections, but only if he is granted immunity, his lawyer said Thursday.
"Gen. Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it, should the circumstances permit. ... No reasonable person, who has the benefit of advice from counsel, would submit to questioning in such a highly politicized, witch-hunt environment without assurances against unfair prosecution," Robert Kelner, Flynn's lawyer, said in a statement late Thursday.
"I think we should hear from him in the public and that we should get to the bottom of just exactly why was he working with Russia Today," Swalwell said. "As a former Defense Intelligence Agency director, he of all people knows that agency is connected to Russia's intelligence services and so to take money from them and to work with Russian ambassador after sanctions were put on Russia and to lie to the vice president, that's powerful evidence that he knew what was going on and this was converging at the time of Russia's interference campaign."
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, defended Flynn's request for immunity in a tweet on Friday morning.
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) March 31, 2017
The Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday that Flynn was in talks to try to get a promise of immunity, but that nobody had agreed to his terms yet.
However, aides to the House intelligence committee said they have not received any requests from Flynn yet. A spokesperson for the Senate intelligence committee declined comment Thursday evening.
"Ideally, we work together as far as witness testimony," Swalwell said. "This is not anything that I or I believe my colleagues are familiar with. We want to hear from Michael Flynn. We want to hear from Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Roger Stone," he said, referencing three former Trump aides who are also at the center of the federal investigation.
