An aide to Hillary Clinton has been subpoenaed by three separate Congressional committees and has informed the committees he will plead the fifth "to avoid testifying against his former boss" according to Fox News.
Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign before helping install the so-called "homebrew" server system in her Chappaqua, N.Y. home, was asked to testify about the server by the House Select Committee on Benghazi, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
"Mr. Pagliano’s legal counsel told the committee yesterday that he would plead the 5th to any and all questions if he were compelled to testify," a spokesperson for Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-IA, told Fox on Wednesday.
Pagliano's attorney explained his decision, citing the FBI's on going investigation into whether classified material was mishandled when it passed through Clinton's server.
"While we understand that Mr. Pagliano’s response to this subpoena may be controversial in the current political environment, we hope that the members of the Select Committee will respect our client’s right to invoke the protections of the Constitution," MacDougall wrote.
Pagliano, who worked in IT on Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, was asked to manage the installation of Clinton's homebrewed server once she was appointed Secretary of State. He was on the payroll of a political action committee connected to Hillary Clinton in 2009 when he was hired by the State Department as an IT specialist. Currently, he works for a government contractor who provides some services to the State Department.
Rep. Elijah Cummings D-MA, the ranking minority member on the Benghazi Committee accused Rep, Trey Gowdy R-SC of acting unilaterally to smear Clinton.
"Although multiple legal experts agree there is no evidence of criminal activity, it is certainly understandable that this witness’s attorneys advised him to assert his Fifth Amendment rights," Cummings told the Washington Post, "especially given the onslaught of wild and unsubstantiated accusations by Republican presidential candidates, members of Congress and others based on false leaks about the investigation."
