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Facing Jan. 6 questions, Flynn the latest to plead the Fifth

When it comes to the Jan. 6 probe, at least five people in Donald Trump’s orbit have asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

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It was in early November when the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack issued a large batch of subpoenas, one of which was given to Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s disgraced former White House national security adviser. No one was surprised.

After all, as we discussed soon after, Flynn allegedly attended a December 2020 meeting in the Oval Office in which participants discussed declaring a national emergency as part of a scheme to keep Trump in power despite his defeat. The retired general also reportedly raised the prospect of deploying U.S. troops, seizing voting machines, and declaring martial law as part of an apparent coup attempt.

Few Trump insiders could be more helpful than Flynn in shedding light on what transpired in the runup to the attack on the Capitol. The trouble, of course, is that he doesn’t seem eager to help investigators. NBC News reported:

Michael Flynn appeared before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Thursday, in response to a subpoena.... Flynn did not answer the committee’s questions, exercising his Fifth Amendment right on the advice of counsel, his lead attorney, David Warrington, said in a statement.

If Trump knew six years ago what he knows now, he probably wouldn’t have made derisive comments about those who asserted their right against self-incrimination. “The mob takes the Fifth Amendment,” the then-candidate said in 2016. “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

Little did he know at the time how significant this rhetorical question would become.

Circling back to our earlier coverage, we learned a couple of months ago, for example, that when Eric Trump faced questions about the Trump Organization’s business practices, he invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to more than 500 questions.

But when it comes to the Jan. 6 investigation, the list is even more striking:

John Eastman, a Republican lawyer who allegedly played a direct role in trying to pressure states not to send Democratic electors, even after the Democratic ticket won those states, reportedly pleaded the Fifth — by some accounts, nearly 150 times.

 Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser and GOP operative, said two weeks later that he also pleaded the Fifth.

 Alex Jones, by his own admission, pleaded the Fifth nearly 100 times when the professional conspiracy theorist sat down with congressional investigators.

Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, also pleaded the Fifth, reportedly more than 100 times.

And now Michael Flynn has done the same thing.

What was it that Trump said about organized crime figures taking the Fifth Amendment?