Satirist and radio host Randy Credico was released from an interview with the House Intelligence Committee after his lawyer told the committee he planned on pleading the Fifth Amendment, Mother Jones reported Wednesday.
“Since your client will be pleading the 5th Amendment, the Committee does not require his presence for the scheduled interview,” the committee’s senior counterterrorism counsel, Kashyap Patel, wrote to Credico’s lawyer, Mother Jones reported. The lawyer, Martin Stolar, shared the email with Mother Jones.
Credico, who created a multi-part series this year on Wikileaks and Julian Assange for his radio show on WBAI, came to the committee’s attention when Roger Stone claimed that Credico had been his intermediary with Assange. Stone emphasized that Credico hadn’t transferred anything secret or privileged to him.
On Nov. 27 the committee subpoenaed Credico to testify on Dec. 15 (he tweeted an image of the subpoena on Nov. 28), reportedly after he told them he would not be interviewed voluntarily.
Stolar told Mother Jones that he didn’t want Credico “walking into an opening question,” given how “radioactive” Julian Assange is, and that Credico wanted to protect conversations with Assange that the Wikileaks founder “didn’t talk about on the air.”
“If they want to go charge Randy with something, then let them do it, not with his own words,” Stolar told Mother Jones. “I’m not saying he’s a criminal suspect in anything. But that is what the Fifth Amendment is for, to protect against self-incrimination.”
