Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano (R) is suing the House committee responsible for investigating the events surrounding January 6th, 2021, to block the panel from enforcing its subpoena for his testimony.
Mastriano argues in the lawsuit that the Jan. 6 committee does not have the authority to compel his testimony due to the panel’s structure of having Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) serving as its vice chairwoman as opposed to a leadership-appointed ranking member.
The Hill reports:
“Because the Select Committee has absolutely no authority to conduct compelled depositions, plaintiff was willing to sit for a voluntary interview,” Mastriano’s attorney Timothy Parlatore wrote in the filing.
“However, because plaintiff is currently the Republican nominee for governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, he asked the committee to agree to certain prophylactic measures that would ensure that his participation would not run the risk of improperly influencing the Pennsylvania state election. Unfortunately, the committee refused to negotiate any terms of a voluntary interview that would prevent them from improperly influencing the election, thus necessitating this litigation.”
The committee issued a subpoena to Mastriano in February over his involvement in a plan to send alternate slates of electors on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to push the election in Trump’s favor.
In June, Mastriano agreed to sit for an interview with the panel and released materials he’d shared with the committee. However, the panel claimed the documents were more limited than what had been requested. The Pennsylvania candidate for governor reportedly met with the panel on Aug. 9th for about 15 minutes.
Mastriano appeared to ask for “some form of protection against the committee releasing edited and misleading clips of his interview,” but the night before the deposition, the panel indicated the very claims the candidate laid out in the suit filed Thursday would not suffice for seeking to avoid a formal deposition.
According to Mastriano’s filing, things got heated when his attorney “asked whether the Chairman had issued the subpoena or if a staffer had instead issued it using an autopen” in an attempt to challenge the validity of the subpoena.
Mastriano’s lawsuit asks the judge to announce he does not have to comply with the subpoena and also asks the Jan. 6th panel to cover the associated legal fees.
Mastriano is facing off against Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) to become the next governor of the Keystone State.
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Biden crime family have done nothing to stop Chinese fentanyl from coming into the US from China via Mexico, begining to wonder if the Hunter Biden crime family somehow are in on that action. Seem’s like it’s a non topic with the Biden’s,the only ones not protesting fentanyl crimes are those making money off of the product.Time to find out all the deals Hunter made.
No doubt.
Let’s not forget about Mitch (Cocaine) McConnell.
Republicans are in always in bed with democrats. WE THE PEOPLE are just empty words to them and meaningless to democrats!
Well let’s change that by calling our elected representatives and let them know how we feel and how we’ll vote! If we all do that, things will change for the betterment of the USA! Amen
Apparently people seem to think that complying with a subpoena is voluntary, there needs to be stronger penalties and enforcement mechanisms
The House of Representatives is not part of the Judiciary and have made themselves Judge, Jury, and executioner.
Sounds like a reasonable request to me, but we know the Kangaroos on the Kommittee have their own agenda.