Evan Vucci/AP
The congressional committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol appears to be zeroing in on Donald Trump’s inner circle. On Tuesday afternoon, the committee handed down fresh subpoenas to 10 former Trump administration officials, including press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller.
Both McEnany and Miller vocally spread the big lie that massive voter fraud swung the election to Joe Biden. From the White House briefing room, McEnany made unsubstantiated claims about mail-in voting and said that Trump’s campaign was pursuing “very real claims” of voter fraud. According to the committee, Miller participated in efforts to encourage the appointment of alternate slates of pro-Trump electors in states that Biden won.
Miller, McEnany, and the eight other subpoena recipients will have until November 23 to turn over documents to the committee. They will also have to submit to depositions scheduled for December.
“We need to know precisely what role the former President and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election,” committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a statement. “We believe the witnesses subpoenaed today have relevant information.”
The January 6 committee appears to be steadily working its way up the chain to senior Trump administration leadership. Only a day before the new subpoenas were issued, the committee subpoenaed six former Trump officials and associates, including national security adviser Michael Flynn and conservative lawyer John Eastman, who outlined a legally dubious, six-point plan describing how Vice President Mike Pence could supposedly throw out electors from states Biden won.
In October, the House of Representatives voted to hold former Trump adviser Steve Bannon in contempt for spurning a subpoena from the select committee. The Justice Department has yet to indicate whether it will prosecute Bannon for his refusal.
