Former President Trump’s spokesperson, Taylor Budowich, sued the Jan. 6 committee on Friday in an effort to block the panel from obtaining his financial records — and, in doing so, gave an account of his cooperation with the investigation so far.
In addition to the committee and each of its nine members, Budowich sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank.
In his lawsuit, Budowich argued that he provided “more than 1,700 pages of documents” and “roughly four hours of sworn testimony” to the committee.
The documents Budowich produced were “sufficient to identify all account transactions” from Dec 19. 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021 in connection with the “Stop the Steal” rally, the spokesperson claims in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also notes that Budowich answered questions at his deposition about payments made and received regarding his involvement in the planning of the rally.
After claiming that he received a notice from his bank that he had until 5 p.m. ET on Christmas Eve to respond to the committee’s request for information — a notification Budowich says he recieved shortly after arriving home from his deposition before the committee — the spokesperson argued that the committee’s request for his financial records showed “a lack of good faith.”
Budowich’s lawsuit was filed a month after the committee wrote in its letter to him that he had “solicited a 501(c)4 organization to conduct a social media and radio advertising campaign to encourage people to attend” a rally supporting Trump and the former president’s election fraud falsehoods.
“The Select Committee has reason to believe your efforts include directing to the 501(c)(4) organizations approximately $200,000 from a source or sources that was not disclosed to the organization to pay for the advertising campaign,” the committee wrote.
Budowich is the latest Trump foot soldier to sue the committee in the past month.
Last week, former Trump adviser Michael Flynn sued the committee over its subpoena for his phone records that compelled him to testify and to produce documents. Flynn, who said he would invoke the Fifth Amendment, lost his lawsuit a day after filing his motion in federal court in Florida.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows also sued the committee, its members and Pelosi earlier this month, hours after the panel said that it planned on holding him in criminal contempt. After a short-lived engagement with the committee, Meadows went back to stonewalling the panel, claiming executive privilege. Meadows sued to block the enforcement of a committee subpoena for his insurrection-related records and testimony, saying that it was “issued in whole or part without legal authority in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
In a statement following the lawsuit’s filing, Budowich made a chin-scratcher of an argument that the committee’s seeking of information from him — relevant to the breaching of the Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6 as the joint session of Congress worked to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory — signals that “democracy is under attack.”
“However, not by the people who illegally entered the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, but instead by a committee whose members walk freely in its halls every day,” Budowich said.
