Roger Stone to plead the Fifth in Jan. 6 investigation

An attorney for Roger Stone has informed the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that his client will plead the Fifth.

Stone’s lawyer, Grant J. Smith, confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday that he "sent a letter to the Select Committee on behalf of Mr. Stone advising them that he will be asserting his Fifth Amendment privilege in response to their subpoena." The letter was sent on Monday.

In the letter, Smith said Stone "declines to be deposed or to produce documents."

Smith referred The Hill to an article published by DJHJ media, which contained a copy of the letter. "I believe Mr. Stone provided the letter to this reporter as a link in this story," Smith said.

Stone, a close Trump ally whose prison sentence was commuted by the then-president days before his term expired, was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee on Nov. 22. Stone was slated to speak at rallies on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 and reportedly had members of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers work as his personal security that day.

He was set to appear before the committee for a deposition on Dec. 17.

He is now the third witness subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee to plead the Fifth. Former Department of Justice (DOJ) official Jeffrey Clarke and attorney John Eastman have both informed the committee of their intent to exercise their Fifth Amendment rights.

Smith, in his letter to the committee, said the congressional panel’s request for documents is “overbroad, overreaching, and far too wide ranging to be deemed anything other than a fighting expedition.”

He also said the committee “seeks an imprecise and undefined category of ‘documents and communications concerning’ a broad range of constitutionally protected political activity.”

The attorney also asserted that producing the documents requested would require “the preparation of a detailed index and log describing the contents of the production, which in and of itself would be protected from disclosure by the U.S. Constitution.”

Smith noted, however, that the letter informing the committee of Stone's intent... (Read more)

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