The Conversation (0)
Liam O'Dell
Nov 10, 2021
It’s steadily approaching one year since insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol building to protest Congress certifying Joe Biden as president, and investigations are still ongoing as to what led to the deadly riot on 6 January.
On Tuesday, the select committee investigating the incident announced that it had issued 10 subpoenas - or orders – to former Trump officials, following on from six subpoenas revealed on Monday, which included re-election campaign manager William Stepien.
Commenting on the latest batch of orders, Mississippi representative Bennie G. Thompson, committee chairman, said: “The select committee wants to learn every detail of what went on in the White House on January 6th and in the days beforehand.
“We need to know precisely what role the former president and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election.
“We believe the witnesses subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to comply fully with [our] investigation as we work to get answers for the American people, make recommendations on changes to the law to protect our democracy, and help ensure that nothing like January 6th ever happens again.”
The letters sent to the 10 individuals require them to provide both records and testimonies to the committee.
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So who are the witnesses, and what’s their connections to ex-president Donald Trump? We’ve rounded up all the information below.
Nicholas Luna
Mr Luna is “commonly referred to” as Trump’s “body man”, according to the committee, meaning he would be in close proximity to the then-president day and night.
The letter to the official also references an extract from Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s book Peril, published in September 2021, which claimed that Mr Luna was in the Oval Office on 6 January when Trump called Mike Pence, the vice president, urging him not to certify the 2020 election results in Congress.
The committee believes Mr Luna would have been “in regular contact with White House officials … during many meetings and events relevant to the select committee’s inquiry”.
Kayleigh McEnany
Arguably one of the more well-known names on the list, Ms McEnany served as Trump’s White House press secretary from April 2020, right up to the president’s last day in office on 20 January this year.
Of course, as the official tasked with making multiple statements on behalf of the Trump administration, it’s clear why the select committee would want to speak to the former president’s mouthpiece – one of many at the time, we’d argue.
Writing to Ms McEnany, the select committee refer to an address made on 10 November last year, when she accused the Democrats of “welcoming fraud” and “welcoming illegal voting”. The claims were so baffling that even the conservative news channel Fox News cut away from it.
They also reference a press conference held on 20 November, where the former press secretary said that there was a “system that had never been tried in American history”- mail-out voting – which she said claimed been identified as being “particularly prone to fraud”.
According to documents obtained by the committee, she also spoke at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally at the Ellipse, which would take place in Washington the same day insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol building.
A book by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, titled I Alone Can Fix It, is also cited by Mr Thompson, in which it is claimed Ms McEnany “popped in and out” to watch the attack on the Capitol with Trump.
Molly Michael
Former special assistant to Trump and Oval Office operations coordinator, Ms Michael reportedly forwarded an email in December 2020 to the acting attorney general and their deputy, in addition to the solicitor general. It was, the committee claim., part of Trump’s “efforts to have the Department of Justice file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court aimed at overturning the election”.
It’s one of two emails referred to in the select committee’s letter.
Christopher Liddell
Not to be confused with the supermarket chain, Mr Liddell was the former deputy chief of staff at the White House, and was in the presidential building on 6 January. The committee believes this, as well as his close working relationship with Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, are within the scope of their inquiry.
Keith Kellogg
Not to be confused with the cereal brand, General Kellogg was the national security advisor to Vice President Pence. According to the aforementioned I Alone Can Fix It, he urged Trump to tweet his supporters in order to help control the crowd at the Capitol. The book also claims that he was in a meeting with Trump in January where the former president said Pence “need[ed] to send the votes back”, thus not certifying the result of the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, Peril states that General Kellogg was reportedly in the White House when the insurrection unfolded.
John McEntee
Mr McEntee was the White House personnel director during the Trump administration. In addition to, reportedly, being with the president when he went to and spoke at the Ellipse for the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally, he was in a meeting with Trump, Pence, former official Justin Clark and ex-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani when the audit in Georgia was being discussed.
It was the same meeting where Giuliani allegedly proposed seizing voting machines due to ‘fraud’.
Mr McEntee also reportedly discouraged officials from seeking new employment after the election, for fear of this appearing to confirm Trump’s defeat.
Benjamin Williamson
Mr Williamson was a deputy assistant to Trump, and a senior advisor to Mark Meadows, his chief of staff. The committee want to speak to him over his close ties to Mr Meadows, but also about reports that Alyssa Farah, former White House communications director, urged both Mr Williamson and Mr Meadows to make Trump issue a statement condemning the attack and the violence – without success.
Cassidy Hutchinson
Ms Hutchinson, Trump’s legislative affairs assistant worked closely with Mr Meadows, and was also with the former president at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally, where she spoke. Both of these areas are of interest to the committee.
Kenneth Klukowski
Mr Klukowski, former senior counsel to General Jeffrey Clark, the assistant attorney general, was allegedly part of “attempts to involve the Department of Justice in efforts to encourage [US] states to submit alternate slates of electors” following the 2020 election result.
Stephen Miller
Another well-known name in Trump’s circle, Mr Miller was a senior advisor to the former president, who was reportedly with the Republican at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally (Trump’s speech at said rally, Miller had helped to produce) and in the White House when the insurrection took place.
The committee also references a December article by The Hill in which Miller told Fox and Friends: “The only date in the constitution is January 20. So we have more than enough time to right the wrong of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election.
“As we speak, today, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and we’re going to send those results up to Congress. This will ensure that all of our legal remedies remain open.
“That means that if we win these cases in the courts, that we can direct that the alternate slate of electors be certified,” he said.
Now that Biden’s won, the only thing that’s been meaningfully slated is Miller.
The subpoenas came on the same day that a federal judge ruled that Trump could not withhold records from the 6 January committee.