By Bob Christie | Related Press
PHOENIX — Arizona Republican Get together Chair Kelli Ward refused to reply questions throughout a deposition of the Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol, an lawyer for the panel revealed Tuesday throughout a court docket listening to in Phoenix.
Lawyer Eric Columbus advised a federal decide that Ward asserted her Fifth Modification proper towards self-incrimination when she complied with a subpoena from the Home committee.
The element about Ward’s deposition got here at a listening to the place legal professionals urged a federal decide to dam the committee from getting her cellphone information whereas she appeals. U.S. District Decide Diane Humetewa dominated on Sept. 23 that Ward’s arguments that her cellphone name information needs to be secret didn't go authorized muster.
Ward lawyer Laurin Mills forged the cellphone information combat as one with main implications for democracy, on par if not larger than the violent riot that unfolded on the Capitol.
“That is the primary time in American historical past that a choose committee of the United State Congress managed by one occasion has subpoenaed the information of the state chair of the rival occasion,” Mills stated.
He stated the end result will set necessary precedent, not only for the present case however for others that may come when Republicans finally management Congress.
The Home Committee investigating the assault on the Capitol is looking for cellphone information from simply earlier than the November 2020 election to Jan. 31, 2021. That would come with a interval the place Ward was pushing for former President Donald Trump’s election defeat to be overturned and whereas Congress was set to certify the outcomes.
Kelli Ward and her husband Michael Ward have been presidential electors who would have voted for Trump within the Electoral Faculty had he gained Arizona. Each signed a doc falsely claiming they have been Arizona’s true electors, regardless of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory within the state.
Columbus stated that investigators get phone information on a regular basis, and famous that congressional investigators can’t arrest or cost anybody with a criminal offense. And he famous Congress doesn't know all that's concerned with Ward’s motion to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 win.
“Dr. Ward was deposed by the choose committee and he or she declined to reply on each substantive query below her rights below the Fifth Modification,” he stated. “There are different points of her involvement that aren't at this level totally understood.”
Ward is hardly the primary witness to refuse the committee’s questions. Others who've asserted their Fifth Modification proper towards self-incrimination embody Trump allies Michael Flynn, Roger Stone and lawyer John Eastman. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones additionally asserted his Fifth Modification rights.
The committee has talked to greater than 1,000 different witnesses, together with many White Home aides and several other of Trump’s legal professionals and confidants.
However Mills famous through the listening to that there's a parallel felony investigation underway, and within the enchantment her legal professionals famous that she and the opposite 10 pretend Arizona electors acquired grand jury subpoenas from the Division of Justice.
“All I can say is that if we do that incorrect, we'll set a precedent that's worse than the Capitol riot,” Mills stated.
Mills advised the decide that the ninth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals has set a briefing schedule and will resolve the case as early as January. Columbus famous that may possible be too late, because the committee dissolves on Jan. 3, when the present congressional session ends.
The Wards say the subpoena needs to be quashed as a result of it violates their First Modification rights, violates Home guidelines and exceeds the authority of the Jan. 6 committee. Humetewa rejected every argument in flip in her earlier ruling and is contemplating their request to dam entry throughout enchantment.
Kelli Ward is a staunch Trump ally who has aggressively promoted the false declare that the election was stolen from him. Within the days after the election, she pressured Republicans on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to analyze unsupported claims of fraud earlier than election outcomes have been licensed, based on textual content messages launched by the county.
A spokesperson for the. 6 committee didn't instantly reply Tuesday to a request for remark.
Related Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed from Washington.