Doug Mastriano, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania, has provided documents to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and has agreed to sit for a voluntary interview, his attorney confirmed to NBC News.
“We provided everything we found that was not part of his legislative functions,” Mastriano’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, told NBC News. “My client has nothing to hide.”
Parlatore added that Mastriano’s interview has yet to be scheduled. His cooperation with the committee probing the Capitol riot was first reported by Politico.
Mastriano, currently a Pennsylvania state senator, responded Tuesday to a subpoena issued by the committee in February, which sought information related to Mastriano’s role in an effort to send so-called “alternate electors” for then-President Donald Trump to Congress following his 2020 loss.
Mastriano responded with a letter from his lawyer that linked to “certain documents and communications in his possession, custody, or control.” Most of the documents he provided were public social media posts and correspondence, thought the batch did include receipts and a passenger list from buses carrying pro-Trump protesters to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021 that Mastriano’s campaign had paid for and organized.
Mastriano additionally provided letters he sent to lawmakers and the Justice Department urging them to back Trump’s efforts to overturn the election or halt its ascertainment in Congress on Jan. 6.
In February, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the select committee, wrote to Mastriano that the panel was aware he has “knowledge of and participated in a plan to arrange for an alternate slate of electors to be presented to the president of the Senate on January 6, 2021, and we understand that you spoke with former President Trump about your post-election activities.”
“Based on your public statements, we understand that you were present during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and that you witnessed ‘agitators … getting in the face of the police’ and ‘agitators … start pushing the police up the [Capitol] steps,'” Thompson, R-Miss., wrote.
Mastriano, who has campaigned at events alongside QAnon adherents, was himself on restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, just feet away from rioters breaching police barricades, though he has said he left before the riot.
Mastriano, who won the contested mid-May gubernatorial primary by more than 23 points over his closest rival, Mastriano built his brand and loyal following by doggedly seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in the critical presidential battleground. Just days ahead of the election, with his lead growing in the polls, Mastriano was endorsed by Trump, though other Republicans in the state felt the candidate presented the party’s worst chance of success in the general election against state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee.
Whoever wins the election this fall will play a huge role in oversight of the 2024 presidential election in the critical swing state, as the governor appoints the secretary of state. Just last week, Mastriano was raising money off of false stolen election claims, writing in a fundraising appeal that 2020 “marked the first time American’s [sic] voices were not heard.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
