I’ll testify on riot, but only in public: Kerik

Bernie Kerik says he’s happy to cooperate with the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection — but only in public.

The former NYPD commissioner said Friday he won’t appear for a closed-door deposition about the attack on the Capitol because the panel may twist his words.

“I’m not going to go into a private deposition,” Kerik (photo) told the Daily News. “I want the American people to hear what really happened.”

Kerik seeks the transparency because of what he called a one-sided approach by the committee to supporters of former President Donald Trump. He said the bipartisan panel has cherry-picked documents and testimony to tarnish witnesses.

He pointedly refused to commit to complying with a congressional subpoena to testify behind closed doors on Jan. 13 and hand over documents.

Kerik’s tough stance appeared to undercut his own lawyer’s assertion that he will comply with the subpoena.

“Kerik is happy to provide all of the responsive documents, as well as to sit and answer all appropriate questions,” Kerik lawyer Timothy Parlatore said Thursday in a letter to the committee.

Parlatore says Kerik will publicly release all the documents he plans to hand over.

The committee is holding all its depositions in private as it gathers evidence about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee has vowed to refer Kerik to the Justice Department for contempt if he doesn’t show up for the closed-door deposition.

Kerik also argues that many of the documents and questions he may face could be covered by Trump’s claims of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege if they involve former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Kerik, a close ally of his ex-boss Giuliani, won national recognition for leading the NYPD during and after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

He was sentenced in 2010 to four years in prison for failing to pay taxes and lying to investigators about a scheme to get a mobbed-up company to do $250,000 in renovations to his home in Riverdale, the Bronx. Trump pardoned him in 2020.