Jan. 6 select panel issues subpoenas to former Trump White House officials, associates
Bannon, Meadows among those subpoenaed
The House committee investigating the Capitol attack issued subpoenas Thursday demanding four people who were close to former President Donald Trump leading up to and during the insurrection produce documents and sit for a deposition in October.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sent subpoenas to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; Dan Scavino, the former White House deputy chief of staff for communications; Kashyap Patel, a former Defense Department official; and Stephen Bannon, a former Trump adviser.
Bannon and Patel were instructed to sit for depositions on Oct. 14; Scavino and Meadows are slated for the following day.
Meadows reportedly communicated with the Department of Justice and state election officials as part of an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and communicated with Amy Kremer of Women for America First, an organizer of the rally on Jan. 6, the committee wrote in a news release.
The committee notes that Scavino reportedly was with Trump on Jan. 5 for discussions on how to persuade members not to certify the Electoral College results of Joe Biden’s victory. Scavino was tweeting from the White House on the 6th, the committee said, and promoted the March for Trump in the days leading up to the rally, including a tweet that said “be a part of history,” in reference to the march. The subpoena makes note of Scavino’s proximity to Trump during the insurrection as an apparent witness to the former president’s action.
The committee cited Defense Department documents and media reports in describing Patel, who was chief of staff to then acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, as a participant in discussions involving senior Defense officials about Capitol security leading up to the riot, and as reportedly in constant communication with Meadows on Jan. 6.
Bannon reportedly urged Trump to focus on Jan. 6 and was present at the Willard Hotel on Jan. 5 to try to convince members of Congress to stop the certification of the presidential election results, the committee said in its release.
