WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has issued almost three dozen subpoenas as it aggressively seeks information about the origins of the attack and what former President Donald Trump did — or didn’t do — to stop it.
The panel — which referred Trump campaign and White House strategist Steve Bannon’s flouting of a subpoena to the Department of Justice, leading to Friday’s criminal indictment — is exploring several paths simultaneously, demanding testimony from Trump’s inner circle about his actions that day as well as from outside advisers who organized the rally he spoke at the morning of Jan. 6 and allies who strategized about how to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. They are also turning toward former Vice President Mike Pence’s orbit and questioning witnesses about efforts to pressure him to stop the congressional electoral count.
An attendee’s sign calls for the impeachment of Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida speaks at a rally in Cheyenne, Wyo., on Jan. 28. Cheney is one of two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty ImagesThe committee is expected to issue more subpoenas as some witnesses, especially those closest to Trump, have indicated they won’t comply or refused to answer questions. But lawmakers on the panel have already talked to more than 150 people, most of them voluntarily, about what led up to the violent siege by Trump’s supporters.
While the committee doesn’t have the power to charge or otherwise punish anyone for their actions, the seven Democrats and two Republicans on the panel say they hope to build the most comprehensive record yet of what happened when hundreds of Trump’s supporters brutally pushed past police and broke into the Capitol, interrupting the certification of Biden’s victory.
A look at whom the committee has subpoenaed, and what is to come in the panel’s investigation:
Trump’s inner circle: The committee’s first subpoenas in late September went to four men who were among his most loyal allies: former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Bannon, longtime communications aide Daniel Scavino and Kashyap Patel, a White House national-security aide who had moved to the Pentagon in the weeks after Trump lost the election.
Bannon immediately told the panel he wouldn’t cooperate, citing a letter from Trump’s lawyer claiming that his conversations should be privileged and shielded from the public. The committee balked at that reasoning and the House voted to hold Bannon in contempt, referring the matter to the Justice Department, ultimately resulting in Friday’s two-count indictment against Bannon alleging criminal contempt of Congress.
Meadows could also be held in contempt after his lawyer indicated Thursday that he would not testify, saying in a statement that the courts would have to decide, after the White House notified him that Biden would waive Trump’s claims of executive privilege over the testimony.
From the archives (September 2020): White House chief of staff Mark Meadows lashes out as FBI director fails to echo Trump claims about vote fraud
The House has since subpoenaed several other well-known members of Trump’s circle, including former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and top aides Stephen Miller and Jason Miller. The committee said all three participated in efforts to spread false information and may have been with Trump as the attack unfolded — a key area of investigation, as little is still known about what he did to try to stop it.
The Pence orbit: The committee has also moved to find out more about the effort to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over the certification and resisted aggressive attempts from Trump and many of his allies to get him to try to upend the official process in Trump’s favor.
Capitol Report (December 2020): How Pence could ‘go rogue’ as Congress counts Electoral College votes
From the archives (September 2021): Pence sought counsel from Quayle on capacity to withhold certification on Jan. 6 of Biden’s election, book recounts
The panel has subpoenaed Keith Kellogg, who was Pence’s national-security adviser, writing in the subpoena that he was with Trump as the attack unfolded and may “have direct information about the former president’s statements about, and reactions to, the Capitol insurrection.” The committee wrote that according to several accounts, Kellogg urged Trump to send out a tweet aimed at helping to control the crowd.
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks in September at a gathering in Hungary of religious and political figures and others.
attila kisbenedek/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe Margin (September 2020): Challenge coin features as ex–Pence adviser Olivia Troye rebuts Keith Kellogg’s story of her being fired and marched out of White House
Pence’s former spokeswoman, Alyssa Farah, has spoken to Republican committee members Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and provided documents, according to a person familiar with the conversations who requested anonymity to discuss the confidential conversations. In a series of tweets on Jan. 6, Farah urged Trump to condemn the riots as they were happening and call on his supporters to stand down. “Condemn this now, @realDonaldTrump,” she tweeted. “You are the only one they will listen to. For our country!”
Key Words (October 2021): Pence labels continued focus on Jan. 6 an attempt to ‘demean’ Trump supporters
The committee is likely to have interest in talking to more of Pence’s aides, many of whom were frustrated at how the vice president was treated as Trump publicly urged him to try to overturn the count — a power he did not legally have — even after the rioting started. Some of the rioters chanted Pence’s name as they broke into the Capitol and called for his hanging.
The strategists: The panel on Monday subpoenaed several of Trump’s associates who were closely involved in his efforts to overturn the election and who huddled in a so-called war room at the Willard Hotel, a five-minute walk from the White House, leading up to the siege.
Then–White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on stage at a Trump campaign rally at Prescott Regional Airport in Arizona last October.
AP/Alex BrandonThose Trump allies include lawyer John Eastman; former national-security adviser Michael Flynn; Bernard Kerik, who the committee says paid for hotel rooms that served as command centers ahead of Jan. 6; Bill Stepien, manager of Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign; and Angela McCallum, national executive assistant to Trump’s campaign.
In the letter to Flynn — who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was pardoned by Trump — the committee cited a December 2020 meeting at which Flynn and other participants “discussed seizing voting machines, declaring a national emergency, invoking certain national security emergency powers and continuing to spread the message that the Nov. 2020 election had been tainted by widespread fraud.”
From the archives (July 2021): Trump told Justice Department officials to declare election results ‘corrupt’ and ‘leave the rest to me and the [Republican] Congressmen’: contemporaneous notes
Eastman, too, strategized about how to overturn Biden’s legitimate win and reached out to states.
The aides: On Tuesday, the panel subpoenaed multiple White House aides. Some were top aides and others were lower-level or midlevel staff who may have witnessed Trump’s activities as the rioting escalated.
The White House aides subpoenaed were personal assistant Nicholas Luna, who the panel said may have witnessed a phone call from Trump to Pence pressuring him not to certify Biden’s win; special assistant Molly Michael, who the committee said sent information about election fraud to “various individuals at the direction of President Trump”; and deputy assistant Ben Williamson, a senior adviser to Meadows.
Also subpoenaed were deputy chief of staff Christopher Liddell, who was in the White House on Jan. 6 and considered resigning, according to reports; and personnel director John McEntee and special assistant Cassidy Hutchinson, who the committee said were also in the White House and at the rally that day.
The Trump DOJ: The panel this week also subpoenaed former Justice Department official Kenneth Klukowski, who Thompson said communicated with Jeffrey Clark, a former assistant attorney general, about a letter Clark had drafted urging officials in Georgia to delay certification of the voting results in that state because of purported fraud.
The letter said Clark and Klukowski spoke before a Jan. 3 meeting at the White House in which Trump openly contemplated replacing acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Clark. Rosen and other leaders at the department had pushed back on the false fraud claims.
The committee subpoenaed Clark in October, and he appeared for a deposition last week but declined to testify, partly based on Trump’s claims of executive privilege.
From the archives (January 2021): Trump remains insistent that Pence has the power to decertify election results
The Jan. 6 rally organizers: As part of its probe into the origins of the Jan. 6 riot, one focus of the panel has been the massive Trump rally on the National Mall that was held that morning and went on even after the Capitol breach began.
From the archives (January 2021): Rally at Ellipse that preceded Capitol siege reportedly funded by major Trump campaign donor, aided by Alex Jones
Trump supporters participate in the rally at the Ellipse, near the White House, that immediately preceded the siege on the Capitol where a joint session of Congress had convened to formalize the Electoral College victory of President Joe Biden over then-incumbent Donald Trump.
AP/John Minchillo/FileIncluded on a list of 11 subpoenas in September were Amy and Kylie Kremer, founders of Women for America First, a group that helped organize the rally; Cynthia Chafian, an organizer who submitted the first permit for the rally; Caroline Wren, who the committee says was listed on permit paperwork for the Jan. 6 rally as a “VIP Advisor”; and Maggie Mulvaney, who the panel says was listed on the permit as “VIP Lead.”
Several of those connected to the rally have cooperated.
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