PA gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano suing House Jan. 6 Committee

Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is suing the House special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. 

Mastriano, a state senator, filed a complaint in federal court Thursday challenging the legality of the panel’s ability to compel witnesses to sit for depositions. 

“Central to this issue is the fact that this committee lacks a ranking minority Member, or any members designated by the minority party,” the suit reads. “Although courts have previously held that, despite this defect, the committee has the power to issue subpoenas, no court has ever examined the issue of whether this particular committee is able to comply with the deposition regulations which explicitly require certain actions to be taken by the ranking minority member.” 

Mastriano’s lawyers assert that they are not questioning the legality of the committee or its ability to issue subpoenas. Rather they say that without a ranking Republican member, the committee cannot guarantee witnesses being deposed a fair hearing.

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“Due to the secretive nature of deposition proceedings, the regulations rely upon the two-party system to create an adversarial proceeding to protect the substantive rights of witnesses in the absence of a judge or public scrutiny,” the suit reads. 

The suit names the committee, its nine members, and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California as defendants. Mastriano is asking that a court declare the Jan. 6 committee cannot compel him to sit for a deposition. 

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His lawyers are also requesting the committee pay his legal fees for the suit.

Earlier this year, Mastriano was subpoenaed by the committee for documents and testimony relating to his efforts to have the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania decertified. The Republican nominee provided documents and offered to take part in a voluntary interview, but the committee insisted on a videotaped deposition. 

“Throughout the course of this investigation, Doug Mastriano has always been fully open, cooperative, and transparent with law enforcement, including the FBI,” said Mastriano attorney Timothy C. Parlatore in a statement. “Regrettably, the Committee has chosen to violate the rules of the House of Representatives by demanding a compelled deposition – a move that we must challenge in court.”

Mastriano’s attorneys say that since he is the GOP nominee for governor his testimony could be deceptively edited for campaign purposes. 

The House select committee investigating the January 6 incident has nine members, seven Democrats and two Republicans. 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., attempted to appoint several other lawmakers to the panel last year, but his choices were rejected by Pelosi. In response, McCarthy refused to 

“Speaker Pelosi has taken the unprecedented step of denying the minority party’s picks for the select committee on Jan. 6,” McCarthy said at a press conference last year when announcing Republicans would boycott serving on the committee. “This represents something that has not happened in the House before for a select committee, by the historian.”