Doug Mastriano went to a deposition and … nothing happened.

That’s right, our phantom Republican candidate for governor in PA (more on his non-appearances in another post) was invited to give a deposition to the January 6 Committee and he answered zero questions:

“Trump ally Doug Mastriano’s virtual appearance Tuesday before the House January 6 committee only lasted about 15 minutes and “he didn’t answer a single question,” according to a source familiar with the matter.

Mastriano’s attorney cut off the virtual appearance soon after it began, the source said. His lawyer, Tim Parlatore, took issue with several procedural matters related to the deposition, and raised questions about the legality of the subpoena that Mastriano received from the panel, the source added.

“We were there for 15 minutes. It was clear that the committee was unable to comply with the regulations regarding use of deposition authority and moreover has no interest in complying with the regulations,” Parlatore said. “We’re happy to provide the information if they can either do it fairly and legally or if we can reach a resolution on how to do a voluntary interview which minimizes the risk of election interference.””

Uh-huh. Mr. Parlatore might want to consult with Steve Bannon’s lawyer about the “legality of the subpoena” from the January 6 Committee. I’m pretty sure they’re enforceable.

You may not be familiar with Big Lie promoter Doug Mastriano. He’s a state senator running for Governor who was present at the insurrection on January 6, 2021. He also bussed a number of his fellow Big Liars to the Capitol that day. What fun is a coup if you can’t share it with friends amirite? This is why the committee wants to talk with him. He was captured in photographs on the Capitol grounds but if I’m not mistaken, not actually in the Capitol.

I suspect they want to ask him why he planned this trip, who gave him the bright idea to set up the stop the steal theatrics in Gettysburg, and did he know what Scott Perry and Jeffrey Clark were up to. (You can read about Doug Mastriano’s involvement with the 2020 elections in PA here.) And just like every other person who gets deposed for the committee, he would have been recorded and bits of his testimony would have been woven into their narrative presentations.

I think this is what Mastriano and his lawyer objected to. They wanted their own copy of the deposition, most likely so they could craft ads for his campaign. The committee told him he was not special. He had to comply like everyone else. So he went to the deposition and said nothing like the defiant man-baby who endorsed him for governor.

It looks like he will need to be forced to comply with the subpoena. Then he will resist. Because, they will whine, “your honor, we came to the deposition voluntarily and wanted to tell them everything but they wouldn’t give us a copy of the recording. It’s not faiiiir. There’s an election coming up and We have DIverTICuLITIS.”

I have no doubt that they intend to use the impending subpoena as a campaign meme:

“The traitorous Liberal Democrats and their Failed RINO collaborators are forcing innocent patriots who care about Election Integrity to give depositions about the exercise of their constitutionally protected freedom of speech rights to have their grievances addressed. They will distort the words of brave patriots in order to further torment the best president in history. If I’m elected Governor, I’ll decertify all of Pennsylvania’s voting machines, force every Liberal (must be said snarling) to re-register, and make sure that only legitimately cast ballots are counted. We can prevent the Communist Liberals from forcing gay abortions on our children and destroying the United States of America. I’m Doug Mastriano, I approve this message and this is as close to an open “enemy of the people” press event as you’re going to get from me.”

You can’t make this stuff up.