June 3, 2022

Mastriano Publicly Responds To THE SUBPOENA

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And it only took 107 days! 

(That's the number of days from the date on the subpoena (February 15, 2022) to yesterday when the news hit.)

Basically, I can no longer say that PA State Senator (And GOP Candidate For PA Gov) Doug Mastriano is ignoring a congressional subpoena. Now I can say he's responded to the congressional subpoena from a committee charged with investigating Donald Trump's attempted coup.

What a relief. What a frickin relief.

Early on Politico had the info:

The Jan. 6 select committee received materials this week from Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano — and with them, perhaps, a new dilemma.

Mastriano’s previously unreported cooperation with the Capitol attack probe came in the form of a submission, obtained by POLITICO, that includes documents about his work to arrange buses that carried pro-Trump protesters to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. 

You can read the letter from Timothy C. Parlatore, Doug's attorney, here.

Politico points out, however:

But when the select committee subpoenaed Mastriano, it specifically said he didn’t need to send any materials related to official actions in his current position as a Pennsylvania state senator. Given that sizable carve-out, the vast majority of the materials Mastriano sent to the committee are public social media posts. 

So there's a lot of stuff in there, presumably, that's already available online. It just looks like a big pile.

As Hemingway once said, never confuse movement with action.

But let's see what else is in the news.

From CNN we learn a little more:

Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano has handed over some documents to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol in response to a subpoena he received in March, his attorney told CNN.

But there were clear limits to what Mastriano shared, raising questions about whether the panel will seek more information from one of former President Donald Trump's staunchest allies.
 
Mastriano, a state senator, has also agreed to sit down for a voluntary interview with the committee, according to his attorney Tim Parlatore, who told CNN that his client is "happy to provide the information he has, aside from things that would be inappropriate due to legislative privilege."

 I wonder what "agreed to sit down for a voluntary interview" really means. Non-subpoenaed? Under oath/not under oath? What, exactly?

Then we get this from CNN:

New revelations about Mastriano's cooperation with the House select committee come after he was interviewed by the FBI last year about the planning around the January 6 rally and the breach of the US Capitol, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The FBI has been conducting an expansive investigation into the January 6 riot and questioned Mastriano last summer after photos emerged of him on Capitol grounds that day, according to the source familiar with the interview, which has not been previously reported.  

Mastriano has not been accused of committing any crimes and cooperated fully with the FBI, according to the source. Asked about Mastriano's interview, an FBI spokesperson told CNN that the bureau "cannot confirm the existence of an investigation or comment on details." [Emphases added.]

Doug was questioned by the FBI last summer?

This would be, I would guess, after this hit the fan:

See that yellow box? Inside that yellow box is PA State Senator (and GOP candidate for PA Governor) Doug Mastriano. It was pictures like this that triggered (if I am understanding things correctly) the FBI interview.

So why is this happening now?

Perhaps this is the reason:

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol announced Thursday that the next public hearing will be held at 8 p.m. on June 9.

According to the committee, they will "present previously unseen material documenting January 6th, receive witness testimony, preview additional hearings, and provide the American people a summary of its findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power."

And maybe Doug just wants to get ahead of whatever bad news may or may not be coming out of the committee hearings.

Ya think?

 

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