Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, will refuse to appear for a deposition in front of Congress, according to a letter that his lawyers sent Thursday to the House Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Simpson’s legal team told Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, that their client will employ “constitutional privileges not to testify” because the committee’s inquiry “is not designed to discover the truth” but wants to “discredit and otherwise damage witnesses to Russia’s interference int he 2016 election.”

Mr. Simpson was subpoenaed for a closed deposition scheduled for Oct. 16.

They complained that the committee presented the connection between Christopher Steele, author of the infamous Steele dossier, and Bruce Ohr as “somehow scandalous.”

“No American should be required to participate in efforts to malign and falsely implicate dedicated national security professionals who have served their countries for decades with distinction,” they wrote.

Fusion GPS is the firm that was paid by the Democratic National Committee to dig up opposition research on then-candidate Donald Trump. That resulted in the scandalous document detailing allegedly promiscuous activity committed by Mr. Trump and his alleged ties to Russia. It remains uncorroborated.

Republicans contend that Mr. Ohr, a Justice Department official, helped push the document in the DOJ and FBI. This was done to justify obtaining a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The intelligence community denies those allegations.

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