Protesters supporting U.S. President Donald Trump break into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
The House of Representatives special committee investigating the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol said Thursday it issued three subpoenas related to a pro-Trump rally that preceded the deadly invasion.
The committee said it had issued subpoenas for testimony and records from Ali Alexander and Nathan Martin allegedly related to permission applications for a rally on the premises outside the Capitol.
Just before the mob broke into the building, then President Donald Trump, in a speech in front of the White House, urged a crowd to march to the Capitol. He also put pressure on Republicans to reject the election results of major states.
The committee also requested records from Stop the Steal LLC, which was associated with the Capitol rally and has the same name as the slogan used to promote it.
“The rally on the Capitol grounds on January 6, like the rally near the White House that day, immediately preceded the violent attack on the seat of our democracy,” said Special Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., in a press release.
“During that day, demonstrations escalated into violence and protesters turned into rioters. The special committee needs to understand all the details of what happened prior to the attack, including who was involved in the planning and funding. We expect these witnesses to fully cooperate with our probe, “said Thompson.
The news of the special committee’s latest subpoenas came a week after the panel announced subpoenas for 11 people associated with Trump, including his former campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson and the niece of Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
Two weeks earlier, the committee revealed subpoenas for four Trump allies, all of whom worked in the Trump administration: former adviser Steve Bannon, former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former communications adviser Dan Scavino, and former Defense Department official Kashyap Patel.
Panel member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Said last month the special committee would go “straight to the subpoena” for witnesses who are hostile to the aims of the investigation.
Politico reported Thursday that Trump himself is instructing Bannon, Meadows, Scavino and Patel to defy the committee’s subpoenas.
When asked about the report, a Trump spokeswoman shared a statement from the former president swearing that “executive privilege will be defended”.
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