6 Trump aides summoned in Capitol riot investigation

Further expanding its probe, the United States House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas to six additional associates of former president Donald Trump who were closely involved in his efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.

The committee's chairman, Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, said that the panel is demanding testimony and documents from former Trump campaign officials and others who participated in a "war room" ahead of the siege and strategized about how to halt the certification of Joe Biden's victory.

Thompson said the committee had issued new subpoenas to Bill Stepien, manager of Trump's 2020 reelection campaign; Jason Miller, a senior campaign adviser; Angela McCallum, national executive assistant to the campaign; John Eastman, a lawyer who advised the former president; Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser to Trump who talked with Trump ahead of the insurrection; and Bernard Kerik, who paid for hotel rooms that served as command centers ahead of January 6.

"In the days before the January 6th attack, the former president's closest allies and advisers drove a campaign of misinformation about the election and planned ways to stop the count of Electoral College votes," Thompson said. "The Select Committee needs to know every detail about their efforts to overturn the election, including who they were talking to in the White House and in Congress, what links they had with rallies that escalated into a riot, and who paid for it all."

Electoral count

The subpoenas come after the panel has already demanded documents and testimony from several other Trump advisers – some who have cooperated and some who have not. The House voted last month to hold longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon in contempt after he refused to comply with his subpoena. Trump himself is fighting the probe in court.

The rioters who violently pushed back police to break into the Capitol and interrupt the electoral count repeated Trump's false claims of widespread fraud, and the committee says the six newly subpoenaed witnesses helped amplify the misinformation in the days ahead of the attack. Trump's false claims came as election officials and courts across the country verified Biden's win, and as his own attorney general said there was no evidence of significant fraud.

Thompson says in the letters to the Trump associates that the panel has uncovered "credible evidence" of their participation in the former president's efforts to overturn the election and cites ways that they individually tried to further his cause.

The panel is working with other close Trump advisers to gain testimony, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and administration aide Kashyap Patel.