Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican and the first sitting member of Congress to be requested to provide documents and sit for an interview with the committee investigating the Capitol riot, said on Tuesday he would not comply with the panel.
The news came shortly after Donald Trump provocatively announced that he will hold a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on 6 January, the first anniversary of the deadly attack on Congress.
Perry’s refusal to appear sets up a potentially fraught battle if the panel decides to subpoena him and he – like other Trump allies – decides to ignore that too.
The committee has already recommended other no-shows, such as Trump aide Steve Bannon, be prosecuted for their non-compliance.
Perry claimed the 6 January committee was “illegitimate, and not duly constituted under the rules of the US House of Representatives”.
Successive court rulings have said that the committee was properly formed and does have the investigative powers it is using.
