The panel specifically sought communications with 13 Trump allies who played key roles in the effort to overturn the election: Roger Stone Jr., Stephen K. Bannon, Michael T. Flynn, Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman , Rudolph W. Giuliani , Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Boris Epshteyn, Christina Bobb, Cleta Mitchell and Patrick Byrne.
The panel voted unanimously last week to issue a subpoena to Mr. Trump, and staffers worked for several days to prepare the request. The committee’s lawyers were in contact with representatives of the former president, asking which of Mr. Trump’s many lawyers would be prepared to accept service of the subpoena.
After much internal discussion, Mr. Trump’s team appointed the Dhillon Law Group, which represented several witnesses before the Jan. 6 committee, to handle the case, according to a person familiar with the decision.
Mr. Trump could put himself in legal danger if he testifies. He has a penchant for telling lies, and it’s a federal crime to do so in front of Congress. A federal judge revealed on Wednesday that Mr. Trump had signed a document swearing under oath that information in a Georgia lawsuit he had filed challenging the 2020 election results was true, even though his own legal team told him let it be known that it was false. .
How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staffers can vote, they are not allowed to support or campaign for political candidates or causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or donating money or raising funds for any political candidate or electoral cause.
There are also risks for the committee. Mr. Trump’s letter last week was the latest reminder that he would be likely to use any unlimited opportunity for live public testimony to continue perpetuating the same lies about the 2020 election that fueled the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021; and there is no guarantee that he would answer substantive questions.
After interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses and obtaining millions of pages of documents, the Jan. 6 committee presented a comprehensive summary of its case placing Mr. Trump at the center of a calculated, multi-part effort to overturn the vote that started even before election day. .
Despite losing the election, Mr. Trump ignored the facts and aggressively sought to overturn the results, pressuring state officials, heavily arming Justice Department leaders and seeking to create false pro-Trump voter rolls in states that Joseph R. Biden Jr. had won, according to evidence presented by the committee. Then, as his grip on power slipped, Mr. Trump called a crowd of his supporters in Washington on Jan. 6, mobilizing far-right extremists, and told them to march on Capitol Hill. As hundreds of people stormed the building, assaulting police officers and disrupting election certification, Mr. Trump did nothing for hours to stop the violence, the committee showed.