WASHINGTON — A political research firm behind a dossier of allegations about President Donald Trump’s connections to Russia is balking at subpoenas from the House intelligence committee, with a lawyer for the firm questioning the legitimacy of the panel’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Joshua Levy, a lawyer for Fusion GPS, said in a letter to the panel Monday that House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes is acting “in bad faith.” Nunes stepped back from the Russia investigation after criticism he was too close to the White House, but is still chairman of the panel and signs its subpoenas.
Levy signaled that the company won’t cooperate with the panel. He said in the letter that if any of the employees subpoenaed — Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and two others with the firm — are compelled to appear before the committee, they will exercise their Fifth Amendment rights and refuse to testify. He portrayed the subpoena as an attack on their free speech rights.
In a statement, Levy said Nunes “would rather use his office to learn about who funded opposition research on Donald Trump than whether the Russian government interfered with our election. Americans of all political stripes should find his actions chilling.”
