The select committee tasked with investigating the January 6th Capitol riot has subpoenaed four of former President Trump’s top allies. On Thursday, Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, strategist Steve Bannon, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino, and Kashyap Patel, the chief of staff to then-acting Secretary of Defense Christoper Miller received the subpoenas to appear at an October deposition.
The Hill reports:
“You have been identified as present at the Willard Hotel on Jan. 5, 2021 during an effort to persuade members of Congress to block the certification of the Election the next day, and in relation to other activities on Jan. 6,” the committee wrote in the letter to Bannon.
“You are also described as communicating with then-President Trump on Dec. 30, 2020, and potentially other occasions, urging him to plan for and focus his efforts on Jan. 6. Moreover you are quoted as saying, on Jan. 5, 2021, that ‘[a]ll hell is going to break loose tomorrow.’”
The series of subpoenas is the most aggressive move yet from a committee that previously sent a series of requests to government agencies seeking Trump-era records and requested a number of documents from major telecommunications and tech companies. The letters also reference subpoenas for a number of documents, but does not disclose what is being requested.
The letters also show a committee interest in what Trump was doing on Jan. 6 — both leading up to the rally where he told his loyalists to “fight like hell” and march on the Capitol, and in the hours after the attack when the National Guard was significantly delayed in assisting police secure the complex.
Trump responded to the four subpoenas slamming what he called the “unselect committee.” In a blistering statement released by his Save America PAC, Trump said that he plans to use executive privilege where necessary.
“The “Unselect Committee” of highly partisan politicians, a similar group that perpetrated the now proven lie of Russia, Russia, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and many other Scams, has sent out Harassment Subpoenas on Jan. 6th so that the Government of the United States can continue wasting time while Russia, China, and virtually every other country that deals with our Nation can continue to “eat our lunch,” and laugh at the stupidity of what is going on at our Southern Border, and the worst withdrawal from a war zone by any Nation in history—all of this while the Democrats persecute and prosecute Republicans which is, together with Rigging Elections, essentially all they know how to do. We will fight the Subpoenas on Executive Privilege and other grounds, for the good of our Country, while we wait to find out whether or not Subpoenas will be sent out to Antifa and BLM for the death and destruction they have caused in tearing apart our Democrat-run cities throughout America.”
According to Newsmax, Trump is mocking the “unselect committee” after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all of his nominees after Nancy Pelosi rejected two of the choices.
Trump continued, “Hopefully the Unselect Committee will be calling witnesses on the Rigged Presidential Election of 2020, which is the primary reason that hundreds of thousands of people went to Washington, D.C. in the first place. Let the people of the United States see the real facts, which cannot happen because the Fake News refuses to write about them. The Witch Hunt will never end! In the meantime, the Democrats get away with the Russia Scam, and all of the other corruption they have perpetrated on our Country for so many years. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
