It doesn't matter who you were responding to. I can't blame you, Minister, I would do the same thing if I were you. You can't know what Mr. Theis knows or doesn't know.
However, the committee needs to know what he knows. Witnesses have shared some disturbing things with us and we want to ensure that we have the correct version of the facts. We want to ask him for his version.
What do we do if he does not abide by the orders of the House? How do we get his testimony?