Trump ally and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik has turned over a batch of documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, while withholding several pending an agreement over Mr. Kerik’s deposition.
Mr. Kerik, who worked with Mr. Trump‘s lawyer and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to investigate allegations of voter fraud following the 2020 presidential election, said he is willing to testify before the committee but says he wants his testimony to be made public.
“If the true interests of this Committee are a full and accurate accounting, I do not see any reason why you would not be agreeable to these proposed terms,” Mr. Kerik’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, said in a letter to the committee obtained by Politico Friday.
The panel issued a subpoena last month for Mr. Kerik to turn over documents and appear for a deposition.
The committee accused Mr. Kerik of working with Mr. Giuliani to “promote baseless litigation and ‘Stop the Steal’ efforts.”
The lawmakers said Mr. Kerik also paid for rooms in other hotels “that served as election-related command centers.”
Mr. Parlatore said many of the documents requested by the committee are “shielded from disclosure” by a doctrine known as the “work-product doctrine” which “shelters mental the process” of attorneys when working on cases for their clients.
In the case of these documents, in particular, Mr. Parlatore said Mr. Trump would need to sign off on their release.
Mr. Kerik handed over a “privilege log” to the committee outlining the more than two-dozen documents that were pending approval for release.
Mr. Parlatore said he had received a conditional waiver from Mr. Trump’s legal team to release the documents, but that the waiver was contingent on “Mr. Kerik testifying at a public hearing, a condition that your committee has thus far refused to accept.”
The committee declined to comment.
Last week, before releasing documents, Mr. Kerik insisted that his deposition be public, saying he wants “the American people to hear what really happened.”
Mr. Kerik said he doesn’t trust the Democratic-run committee, which Republicans insist is a partisan effort to smear former President Donald Trump and the GOP.
The committee is investigating the attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump supporters last year to stop Congress from certifying President Biden’s election victory, and denies accusations of partisanship.
The Jan. 6 panel has held several private depositions of former Trump advisers and rally organizers, and the committee members have threatened to play hardball with witnesses who don’t cooperate.
It has thus far recommended contempt of Congress charges for three witnesses who failed to appear or refused to answer questions during depositions.
President Trump pardoned Mr. Kerik in 2020 of felony tax fraud charges and for lying to White House officials. Mr. Kerik pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to prison in 2010.
Mr. Kerik was released from prison in 2013 after serving three years of a four-year sentence.
Source:Washington Times
