A former Hillary Clinton staffer pleading the Fifth to a congressional committee over Hillary Clinton’s emails is doing so to avoid jail, not for political reasons, according to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough Thursday morning.
"If you're pleading the Fifth, that has nothing to do with politics," Scarborough said. "That has to do with being afraid you may say something that will incriminate you criminally."
Bryan Pagliano, a former Clinton staffer who set up her private email server, sent the House Select Committee on Benghazi a letter informing Chairman Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.) he would be invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.
Mark MacDougall, Pagliano’s lawyer, said his client would not be attending a September 10, 2015 hearing on his involvement with Clinton’s email scandal due to the "current political environment."
The attorney also said Pagliano will "decline to produce documents that may be responsive to the subpoena" and "he would plead the 5th to any and all questions if he were compelled to testify" in front of the Judiciary Committee as well.
"He's worried about it being a spectacle, you don't plead the Fifth. That's his constitutional right to plead the Fifth but you can't plead the Fifth to try to stop yourself from being charged or going to jail," Scarborough said. "And then say, 'Well, I'm doing this for political reasons.' No. Just the opposite."
The Morning Joe panel appeared baffled by the move.
"I mean if he could help clear things up for her, it would make it much less of a spectacle," co-host Mika Brzezinski said. "Can he rethink that?"