The suit names the committee, its nine members, and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California as defendants. Mastriano is challenging the legality of the committee’s ability to compel witnesses to be deposed.
From Fox News:
Mastriano, a state senator, filed a complaint in federal court Thursday challenging the legality of the panel’s ability to compel witnesses to sit for depositions.
“Central to this issue is the fact that this committee lacks a ranking minority Member, or any members designated by the minority party,” the suit reads. “Although courts have previously held that, despite this defect, the committee has the power to issue subpoenas, no court has ever examined the issue of whether this particular committee is able to comply with the deposition regulations which explicitly require certain actions to be taken by the ranking minority member.”
Mastriano’s lawyers assert that they are not questioning the legality of the committee or its ability to issue subpoenas. Rather they say that without a ranking Republican member, the committee cannot guarantee witnesses being deposed a fair hearing.
“Due to the secretive nature of deposition proceedings, the regulations rely upon the two-party system to create an adversarial proceeding to protect the substantive rights of witnesses in the absence of a judge or public scrutiny,” the suit reads.
“Throughout the course of this investigation, Doug Mastriano has always been fully open, cooperative, and transparent with law enforcement, including the FBI,” said Mastriano attorney Timothy C. Parlatore in a statement. “Regrettably, the Committee has chosen to violate the rules of the House of Representatives by demanding a compelled deposition – a move that we must challenge in court.”
Mastriano’s attorneys say that since he is the GOP nominee for governor his testimony could be deceptively edited for campaign purposes.
