Trump-backed Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano has turned over documents to the House Jan. 6 committee and agreed to sit for a voluntary interview with the panel.
Mr. Mastriano’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, turned over the materials this week in response to the committee’s subpoena from February.
“This was a fishing expedition,” Mr. Parlatore told The Washington Times. “Their goal is to create the appearance of noncompliance because that’s preferable to them. They would have loved nothing more than Mr. Mastriano to refuse to comply so they could put that out and say ‘you shouldn’t vote for him because he refused to comply and is clearly hiding something.”
He said his client was forthcoming with the documents he released and has nothing to hide in an upcoming interview with the Democrat-led committee investigating the riot.
Among the documents were receipts revealing that Mr. Mastriano, currently a Pennsylvania state senator, paid $3,354 to a charter bus company through his campaign committee to bring supporters of President Donald Trump to the Jan. 6, 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington that preceded the riot at the Capitol.
The documents, which were first obtained by Politico, include what appears to be a manifest of the 130 passengers that traveled to Washington for the rally.
He also turned over a tranche of documents previously posted on Twitter in which he called on other state legislators to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election over claims of fraud.
The committee alleged in its subpoena that Mr. Mastriano participated in the “alternate electors” scheme to submit false Electoral College certificates in favor of former President Donald Trump following the 2020 election.
The panel said Mr. Mastriano spoke with Mr. Trump about “post-election activities” and was part of a plan to arrange for alternate electors from Pennsylvania.
Mr. Parlatore said his client did nothing wrong.
“There’s nothing wrong with submitting alternate slates of electors in states where the results are questioned,” Mr. Parlatore told The Washington Times. “It’s a very common occurrence.”
He said the alternate slate of electors was to be used only if that primary slate was deemed to be deemed invalid through litigation.
The committee specifically said in its subpoena that Mr. Mastriano was not required to submit documents generated in his official capacity as a state senator.
Mr. Parlatore said the committee also agreed to allow Mr. Mastriano to appear for a voluntary interview rather than a deposition, giving his client a greater degree of leeway to object to answering questions based on privilege derived from his position as a state senator.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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