Pa. governor nominee cuts short interview with Jan. 6 panel
Pennsylvania’s Republican governor nominee Doug Mastriano appeared briefly Tuesday before the Jan. 6 committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection but shared little as the panel probes Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Mastriano, who was outside the Capitol that day and helped organize efforts in Pennsylvania to submit alternate presidential electors beholden to Trump, cut the interview short. He disputed the validity of the committee and the terms of the appearance, his attorney said.
Mastriano’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said his client wanted to be able to record the interview and said little during the brief session, which was over in less than 15 minutes. Parlatore said they plan to challenge the committee in court.
“Because he’s currently in a general election, we just want some protective measures,” Parlatore said in a phone interview, “to prevent them from putting out a false or misleading quote that would potentially impact the election.”
Mastriano was one of two people expected to provide private interviews Tuesday before the committee, according to a person familiar with the situation who was granted anonymity to discuss it. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had also been in talks to testify on Tuesday.
Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson issued the subpoena for Mastriano in February as the panel intensified its probe of the “fake electors”
scheme, seeking documentation from him and others potentially involved and in close contact with Trump.
The committee “is seeking information about efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington and change
the outcome of the 2020 election,” Thompson wrote. “We’re seeking records and testimony from former campaign officials and other individuals in various states who we believe have relevant information about the planning and implementation of those plans.”
Mastriano, who organized two buses from Pennsylvania for the Trump speech that preceded the violent siege and himself had VIP seating at the rally, walked to the Capitol afterward.
Parlatore said Mastriano “knows nothing about any insurrection” and did not witness any violence or see any firearms. He said his client would be willing to testify publicly before the panel.
A retired Army officer who emerged as the GOP gubernatorial nominee, Mastriano has previously been willing to talk to the committee. He also spoke with the FBI last year and said he did not know about a planned insurrection, his lawyer has said.
Mastriano has said he had regular calls with Trump in the months between his reelection defeat and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. His attorney sought to shield Mastriano from testifying over the alternative electors plan, because it was undertaken when his client was a state senator.
Parlatore said much of Mastriano’s contacts with Trump in the lead-up to Jan. 6 involved Mastriano’s capacity as a state lawmaker — a status that complicates the committee’s efforts to interview him about what the lawyer described as “alternative electors” to the Electoral College.
The committee is working through August on its investigation into Trump’s multipronged effort to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden and the subsequent storming of the Capitol. The attack left at least nine people killed, including a Trump supporter shot by police and a police officer who died later.