John Eastman, the lawyer who wrote memos arguing that then Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 election, said he plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment against the self-incrimination with the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.

The committee subpoenaed Eastman to hand over documents and to appear for deposition on December 8.

In an interview Thursday with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Eastman called the committee a “farce” and suggested he might not appear for his testimony.

“My legal team wrote a legal letter responding to the summons request explaining all the reasons why I was going to assert my Fifth Amendment privileges not to come and testify, not to produce all of these documents,” he said. said Eastman at Bannon’s “Crisis unit“Podcast.

If Eastman does not appear for his deposition, he would be following in Bannon’s footsteps, who has since been charged with a federal offense of contempt of Congress. Bannon has pleaded not guilty.

The Letter of December 1 Eastman’s attorney Charles Burnham was first reported by the National Pulse website and later obtained by Politico.

In the letter, Burnham writes that “Eastman hereby asserts his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness against himself in response to your subpoena” because of concerns “that all statements he makes under this subpoena are used for the purpose of mounting a criminal investigation against him. “

“Although Dr Eastman categorically denies committing any illegal acts, he nonetheless has a reasonable fear that the requested information could be used against him in court,” Burnham said in his letter, which also questions the power of the panel to issue subpoenas and said those issued to Eastman are too broad.

Burnham did not respond to a request for comment, and NBC News has not independently verified the letter. NBC News also contacted the committee on January 6.

Panel chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Wrote in a Letter of November 8 to Eastman that his “documents and testimony are directly related to the Special Committee’s investigation, as you appear to have been instrumental in informing President Trump that Vice President Pence may determine which voters were recognized on January 6, a a view that many of those who attacked the Capitol apparently also shared. “

According to the committee, Eastman informed nearly 300 state lawmakers of the allegations of voter fraud and allegedly told the group to “make sure we don’t put a guy in the White House who was not elected.”

Eastman told Bannon this week that the subpoena requests were a “far-reaching intrusion.”

“I was subpoenaed to come and testify before the January 6 committee, but also to produce documents, communications covering a period of 19 months, anything that I wrote or said or communicated to anyone on the electoral integrity, including my contact lists, ”he told Bannon.

Eastman is the second witness called to say he will invoke the Fifth Amendment. Earlier this week, a lawyer for Jeffrey Clark, a former senior Justice Department official who defended then-President Donald Trump’s baseless election fraud allegations, said his client planned to take the fifth when ‘he would be removed by the committee.

Clark initially declined to answer questions from the committee during his first appearance before the panel last month, citing executive privilege.

His attorney’s offer to testify again while invoking the fifth came the night before the committee’s vote on whether to advance a measure saying he should be returned to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress. The committee voted in favor of the referral, but said it would not be finalized if he cooperated in his next deposition.

Clark was scheduled to be deposed again on Saturday, but the committee announced Friday night that the deposition had been postponed to December 16 after Clark informed the panel of a health issue preventing him from appearing on Saturday.

“President Thompson wishes Mr. Clark good luck,” a spokesperson for the committee said in a statement.

Haley talbot contributed.