WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued six new subpoenas on Friday, elaborating on the rallies that preceded the mob violence and the organizers’ meetings with President Donald J. Trump.
Those Friday subpoenas included Robert “Bobby” Peede Jr., a former director of the White House forward-thinking team, and Max Miller, a former Trump White House aide, who both met Mr. Trump in his private office. dining room at the Oval Office on Jan. 4 to discuss the rally scheduled two days later in the Ellipse, a park just south of the White House; and Brian Jack, Mr. Trump’s former director of political affairs, who approached several members of Congress asking them to speak at the Jan. 6 meeting. (Mr. Jack is currently the political director for California Representative Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader.)
Representative Mo Brooks, Republican from Alabama, accepted Mr. Jack’s invitation, the committee said. During the rally, Mr. Brooks wore body armor on stage as he told the crowd to “take names and kick.”
“Some of the witnesses we have subpoenaed today apparently worked to organize the demonstrations on January 5 and 6, and some appeared to have had direct contact with the former president regarding the meeting at the Ellipse that immediately preceded the attack on the US Capitol,” the representative said. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and chair of the committee, said in a statement. “The select committee expects these witnesses to join the hundreds of individuals who have already participated in our investigation as we work to provide answers to the American people about what happened on January 6 and ensure that something like that day never happens again.” happens.”
The committee also issued subpoenas for Bryan Lewis, who was licensed to hold a meeting outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 to “urge Congress to nullify the electoral votes of states that made illegal changes to voting rules during their elections”; and Ed Martin, an organizer of the Stop the Steal movement, who the committee said was involved in planning and financing the rally just before the attack.
Understand the US Capitol Riots
On January 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
The committee said Martin worked closely with Ali Alexander, a prominent organizer of Stop the Steal rallies across the country with ties to far-right members of Congress. Working with the commission, Alexander delivers a wealth of documents that may shed light on the activities leading up to the attack. At Stop the Steal events in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, he repeatedly referred to the potential use of force to achieve his organization’s goals, including leading a crowd in Washington on Jan. 5 in a chant of “victory or death.” ‘. He claimed to have been in contact with the White House and members of Congress about events planned to undermine Congress’ official count of Electoral College results.
The panel also subpoenaed Kimberly Fletcher and her organization Moms for America, which helped organize a January 5 rally at Freedom Plaza and the January 6 rally at the Ellipse in support of Mr. Trump of election fraud.
The subpoenas are calling on witnesses to submit documents this month and to sit for statements in January.
Mr. Miller, who is now running for Congress in Ohio, said he would accept the subpoena but would vote to dissolve the committee if elected next year.
“When I take office, I will ensure that one of my first votes is to dissolve this partisan commission that has used its powers against innocent Americans. Ohio residents are tired of watching DC’s witch hunts and political theater while the country is on fire,” he wrote on Twitter. “Unfortunately, it is the only card the Democrats can play because their policies are destroying our nation.”
Understand the claim of Executive Privilege in the January 6th application
An important issue that has not yet been tested. Donald Trump’s power as a former president to conceal information from his White House has become a focal point in the House investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Amid an attempt by Mr. Trump to keep personal information secret and the charges against Stephen K. Bannon for contempt of Congress, here’s a breakdown of administrative law:
The commission has already interviewed nearly 300 witnesses, including four on Thursday, but has voted twice to find disdainful allies of the former president. This week, the panel announced it would vote Monday to recommend Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff, as criminal contempt for Congress for defying his subpoena.
Among the witnesses interviewed Thursday in a nondescript federal office building in Washington was Mr. Alexander, who has tried to blame others for the mob violence; and Kash Patel, a former Pentagon chief of staff who was involved in discussions about Capitol security and was in constant contact with Mr. Meadows on the day of the attack.
“We have given the committee thousands of records,” said Mr. Alexander. “I go in there and cooperate where I can. Where I cannot, I will invoke my constitutional rights. But we have tons of evidence for them.”
He claimed that the evidence he provided to the committee “clears” himself, members of Congress and Mr Trump from playing any role in the violence.