Longtime Trump confidante Roger Stone won't cooperate with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and will invoke the Fifth Amendment right not to testify, his attorney said Tuesday evening.
Why it matters: The announcement, first reported by ABC News, came hours after former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said he wouldn't cooperate with the probe.
What they're saying: "Given that the Select Committee's demand for documents is overbroad, overreaching, and far too wide-ranging to be deemed anything other than a fishing expedition, Mr. Stone has a constitutional right to decline to respond," said Stone's attorney Grant Smith in a letter to the committee, per NBC News.
- "Indeed, the Select Committee seeks an imprecise and undefined category of 'documents and communications concerning' a broad range of constitutionally protected political activity."
The big picture: The House panel subpoenaed Stone last month, citing his involvement in the planning of rallies for former President Trump leading up to the Capitol insurrection.
What to watch: Representatives for the House select committee did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
- But Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) tweeted earlier Tuesday that Meadows' deposition "will proceed as planned" and if he fails to appear, "he will be subject to criminal contempt."
- That indicates the panel would prepare a report and resolution seeking to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena — as happened with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon before he was later indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress.
