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By STEVEN PORTNOY CBS NEWS April 1 2017 1250 AM

What is congressionalimmunity

Last Updated Apr 1 2017 730 AM EDT

You may never have heard of it Thatrsquos because in recent years itrsquos rarely granted ButCongress has long had the power to protect witnesses from being prosecuted for whattheyrsquore compelled to say under oath

Dickerson Trump trying to make Flynn investigation seem like ldquopolitical muddlerdquo

Frustrated by witnesses who refused to testify ldquotaking the Fifthrdquo before the House Un-American Activities Committee Congress in the 1950s granted itself the power to force awitness to answer questions even after theyrsquove said they wonrsquot (ldquoThe Fifthrdquo refers to theFifth Amendment which protects individuals from self-incrimination)

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Immunity for Flynn606

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If the full House or Senate or two-thirds of a congressional committee vote to issue asubpoena to a witness who refuses to testify a federal court will order that person toappear and answer questions -- and the answers cannot be used against them in anycriminal proceeding

The Justice Department has no power to stop this Itrsquos entirely up to Congress

However these days lawmakers tread into the immunity arena with trepidation In the1980s grants of congressional immunity to Oliver North and John Poindexter wound upruining the Justice Departmentrsquos efforts to prosecute the Iran-Contra players Both of theirconvictions for lying to Congress were overturned because the appeals court ruled thetestimony they gave before Congress under immunity may have tainted the statements ofother witnesses who testified at their trials

In return for testifying before the intelligence committees former national security adviserMichael Flynn has sought protection The committees are empowered to grant Flynnimmunity if they want to but if the North-Poindexter case is any guide doing so coulddamage some future federal prosecutorrsquos case against him or others who may be thesubjects of the FBI probe

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