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Jan. 6 committee subpoenas top Trump officials, allies who supported effort to overturn election

The committee claimed that Trump's campaign aides and advisers set up a “war room” as a command center to brainstorm efforts to halt the counting of electoral votes.
Sentencing Of Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn arrives at federal court in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 18, 2018.Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol issued a new batch of subpoenas Monday to former administration and re-election campaign aides who supported President Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Six people were subpoenaed: Bill Stepien, Trump's 2020 re-election campaign manager; Jason Miller, a senior campaign adviser; Angela McCallum, a campaign aide; John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who was reported to have advised Trump and others in the administration; Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser; and Bernard Kerik, an adviser who the committee said used Washington, D.C., hotels as "command centers" for the campaign's election strategy.

The committee is demanding records and testimony from witnesses between late November and mid-December.

None of the people who were subpoenaed immediately replied to requests for comment.

The committee claimed that Trump's campaign aides and advisers set up a "war room" as a command center to brainstorm efforts to halt the counting of electoral votes days before the assault on the Capitol.

"In the days before the January 6th attack, the former President's closest allies and advisors drove a campaign of misinformation about the election and planned ways to stop the count of Electoral College votes," Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chair of the committee, said in a statement. "The Select Committee needs to know every detail about their efforts to overturn the election, including who they were talking to in the White House and in Congress, what connections they had with rallies that escalated into a riot, and who paid for it all."

The committee — seven Democrats and two Republicans — has already subpoenaed dozens of former Trump aides and allies, including organizers of the rallies on and leading up to Jan. 6.

Trump swiftly sued last month to block the National Archives from handing over any documents sought by the committee. Trump has also pressed his former aides and allies not to comply with the committee's requests.

Trump has also sought to invoke executive privilege to block the committee from obtaining his White House records. The Biden administration has denied his requests.

The committee alleged Monday that Trump's re-election campaign urged state and GOP officials to press state election officials to "delay or deny certification of electoral votes."

The panel said there is a voicemail recording in which McCallum asked an unknown Michigan state representative whether the Trump campaign could "count on" the representative to appoint alternate electors.

Eastman, according to the committee, briefed nearly 300 state legislators about baseless voter fraud claims and is alleged to have told the group to "make sure that we're not putting in the White House some guy that didn't get elected."

After the election, Miller also coordinated with Trump and Rudy Giuliani, the president's former lawyer, to discuss strategies to overturn the election results and pressure Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the Electoral College count, according to the panel. Flynn also was involved in discussions with the campaign and the administration — he attended a meeting in December in the Oval Office at which officials discussed seizing voting machines and declaring a national emergency, among other options, according to the committee.

Thompson urged witnesses in his statement to cooperate with the committee, which has chastened those who defied its subpoenas.

The House voted last month to hold former White House strategist Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify and asked the Justice Department to pursue criminal charges.

Jeffrey Clark, the former acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Division who played a key role in Trump's efforts, frustrated members of the committee last week when he arrived on Capitol Hill and refused to testify, citing Trump's lawsuit.