AP

Mastriano willing to talk to Jan. 6 committee, spoke to FBI

Jun 1, 2022, 9:49 PM | Updated: Jun 2, 2022, 9:55 am

FILE - State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, a Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, ...

FILE - State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, a Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, speaks at a primary night election gathering in Chambersburg, Pa., Tuesday, May 17, 2022. Mastriano, Pennsylvania's Republican nominee for governor, offered to sit for a voluntary interview with the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and already spoke to the FBI last year about what he knew about it, his lawyer said Thursday, June 2. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano, has offered to sit for an interview with the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and was interviewed by FBI agents last year about it, his lawyer said Thursday.

Mastriano, a state senator and retired U.S. Army colonel who won the GOP nomination for governor last month, was seen outside the Capitol on the day of the insurrection, and he was in regular communication with Donald Trump as the then-president sought to reverse his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Mastriano’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, said Mastriano told the FBI that he did not know about a planned insurrection or any coordination behind the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“He previously was approached and sat for a voluntary interview with the FBI and told them the truth about everything that happened that day,” Parlatore said. “The FBI cleared him.”

Parlatore said he also provided documents earlier this week to the Jan. 6 committee in response to a Feb. 15 subpoena to Mastriano. Parlatore made the offer of an interview months ago, he said. The committee has yet to schedule an interview with Mastriano, and he has nothing to hide, Parlatore said

The submission of documents from Mastriano comes as lawmakers are looking to gather as much testimony and evidence as they can before beginning a series of public hearings next week. The committee has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and collected tens of thousands of pages of documents as it looks to give the American public the most comprehensive look at the events that led to the worst attack on the Capitol in two centuries.

A Senate Judiciary report released late last year alleged that Mastriano and his wife “took part in the January 6 insurrection,” citing footage of them passing through breached barricades and police lines at the Capitol. Mastriano has told reporters that he left when things turned violent.

Mastriano previously denied breaking any laws that day, and he has not been charged with any crime in connection to the Capitol attack.

There is no evidence that Mastriano entered the Capitol building or that he participated in the violence. He has declined repeated efforts by The Associated Press over the past year to interview him about what he did and saw that day. He has called the violence “unacceptable.”

Mastriano was among Trump’s most dedicated supporters during the 2020 campaign and has been a prominent peddler of unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen from Trump. He floated a plan in the Republican-controlled state Legislature to undo Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania and empower lawmakers to instead award the state’s electoral votes to Trump.

Mastriano later organized bus trips to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and advertised himself ahead of time as a scheduled speaker on the Capitol steps during the afternoon. He has described getting prime seats to Trump’s speech before the riot. Trump also endorsed Mastriano for governor.

In its subpoena, the Jan. 6 committee also noted Mastriano’s presence outside the Capitol the day of the insurrection, saying his public statements indicated “you witnessed ‘agitators … getting in the face of the police’ and ‘agitators … start pushing the police up the Capitol steps.'”

Parlatore on Thursday dismissed the committee’s work as “not a real investigation” and politically motivated, designed to boost Democrats’ prospects in November’s midterm elections. The panel is made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans.

Congressional investigators are hoping to learn more about Mastriano’s role in a plan to arrange for an “alternate” slate of electors from Pennsylvania for Trump after the 2020 election. Those individuals went on to declare themselves the rightful electors and submitted false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner of the presidential election in the state.

Those certificates from the “alternate electors” were then sent to Congress, where several of Trump’s Republican allies in the House and the Senate used them to justify delaying or blocking the certification of the election during the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress. The committee will dedicate a portion of its public hearings to the fake electors scheme and the individuals who helped it come to life.

___

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/timelywriter.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

Image: A cargo ship is stuck under the part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after ...

Associated Press

Authorities identify 2 bodies recovered at site of Baltimore bridge collapse

A major bridge in Baltimore snapped and collapsed after a container ship rammed into it early Tuesday, and several vehicles fell into the river below.

9 hours ago

Photo: Mountaineer Jim Whittaker has died at 95....

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

Lou Whittaker, among the most famous American mountaineers, has died at age 95

Lou Whittaker, a legendary American mountaineer who helped lead ascents of Mount Everest, K2 and Denali, has died at age 95.

10 hours ago

File photo: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman speaks in Washington on Jan. 18, 2024....

Associated Press

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP pick in 2000, dead at 82

Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in 2000, has died.

10 hours ago

islamic state attack...

Vanessa Gera, The Associated Press

What we know after the Islamic State group claims responsibility for Moscow massacre

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people.

4 days ago

Moscow shooting...

The Associated Press

Russia: 60 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility

Assailants burst into a concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing over 60 people, injuring more than 100.

6 days ago

Photo: Britain's Kate, Duchess of Cambridge visits 282 (East Ham) Squadron, RAF Air Cadets, Cornwel...

Associated Press

Kate Middleton announces she has cancer, is undergoing chemotherapy

Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, says she is undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer. She has been out of view since Christmas.

6 days ago

Mastriano willing to talk to Jan. 6 committee, spoke to FBI