Trump supports Flynn’s decision to seek immunity over Russia probe

U.S. President Donald Trump has supported the decision of his former National Security Adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, to seek immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony in congressional probes of possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Trump, in a tweet on Friday, emphasised that the decision to probe the sacked adviser is a witch-hunt and excuse by the Democrats and the media to justify the defeat of Democratic Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

“Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media and Democrats, of historic proportion!” Trump wrote in a tweet.

Flynn wants protection against “unfair prosecution” if he testifies before the intelligence committees of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, his lawyer, Robert Kelner, said on Thursday.

Testimony from Flynn could help shed light on the conversations he had with Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, in 2016 while serving as National Security Adviser for Trump’s presidential campaign.

Flynn was forced to resign in February for failing to disclose talks with Kislyak about U.S. sanctions on Moscow and misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations, which occurred before Trump took office.

Congressional committees and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are also looking into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election campaign.

Russia has denied allegations that it hacked emails of Democratic groups and released information to tip the presidential election toward Trump.