WASHINGTON — The House Select Committee to Investigate January 6th announced Tuesday it had issued four new subpoenas for close allies of the former president, including his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
The subpoenas target records and deposition testimony from Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Boris Epshteyn. All four are attorneys who worked for former President Donald Trump or his campaign or, in Powell’s case, in concert with them.
“The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,” committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) wrote in a statement Tuesday. “We expect these individuals to join the nearly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the Select Committee as the committee works to get answers for the American people about the violent attack on our democracy.”
In its letter to Giuliani, the committee said he “actively promoted claims of election fraud on behalf of former President Trump and sought to convince state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results.” The committee also highlighted reporting about Giuliani’s alleged efforts to get Trump to direct the seizure of voting machines around the country, despite being told the Department of Homeland Security had no lawful authority to do so.
The committee also identified its interest in two memos reportedly prepared and circulated by Ellis about then-Vice President Mike Pence’s ability to “reject or delay counting electoral votes” from states that submitted alternate slates of electors.
In its letter to Powell, the committee sought any evidence she had to support the claims of election fraud she made on behalf of Trump, and also linked her to the push to urge Trump to seize voting machines.
Powell was one of a group of pro-Trump attorneys sanctioned by a federal judge in Michigan in December for filing a lawsuit filed with false allegations of fraud and misconduct in the state's November 2020 presidential election. A non-profit ground started by Powell, Defending the Republic, is also reportedly under federal investigation.
Giuliani, meanwhile, is also one of dozens of defendants in civil suits brought by congressional Democrats and U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers in the wake of the violent assault on the Capitol. Last week, Giuliani's attorney, Joseph Sibley, argued that Giuliani and others could not have entered into a conspiracy because there was no "meeting of the minds." In addition to the civil suits, Giuliani is also fighting suspensions of his law license in New York and D.C. in connection with his role in spreading the former president's election fraud lies.
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