Doug Mastriano, Trump-backed Republican running for Pennsylvania governor, sues January 6 committee

• Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano is suing the January 6 committee.

• Mastriano was the Trump legal team's "point person" for a 2020 fake elector scheme.

• The GOP candidate for governor also chartered buses to bring people to Washington on January 6.

Pennsylvania Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano is suing the congressional committee that is investigating his role in the January 6 insurrection and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his attorney told Insider.

The existence of the lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court, was first reported by Politico.

Timothy Parlatore, a criminal defense attorney who is representing Mastriano, told Insider he filed the lawsuit because he does not believe the January 6 committee, as constituted, has the legal right to compel witnesses to appear without what his legal complaint refers to as a "properly appointed" Republican member signing off.

The complaint names Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both Republicans who sit on the committee, as only "nominally members of the Republican party" and claims the two "follow ideologies that are inconsistent with their own party, instead choosing to pursue the priorities of the Democratic Caucus." Thus, the complaint argues, there is no ranking minority member on the committee.

The complaint lists all the members of the committee as defendants, in addition to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who rejected two of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's proposed committee members.

Neither a spokesperson for Pelosi nor the committee responded to Insider's request for comment.

A state senator who is running for governor, Mastriano was the Trump legal team's "point person" for a scheme to appoint fake electors to block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory. He has pushed false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and chartered buses to bring protesters to Washington on January 6.

Mastriano has turned over documents to the January 6 committee and in August sat down for a voluntary interview with the panel. But that interview was cut short after he insisted on recording the session, citing a fear that his comments could be taken out of context. The committee then moved to compel him to appear for a deposition.

Parlatore insisted his client is still willing to speak with the committee but only if he can keep a record of the testimony.

Mastriano could simply refuse to answer questions, citing his right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. But Parlatore, who has also represented former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik before the committee, said that is not an option for him amid a general election campaign.

"They would love nothing more than for him to plead the fifth because then they would use it as propaganda," Parlatore said. "Senator Mastriano did nothing wrong. He has no reason to plead the fifth."

Read the original article on Business Insider