McEnany, McEntee, Miller, and More: Latest Jan. 6 Subpoenas Go Out for Trump Inner Circle

Then-U.S. President Donald Trump spoke as Stephen Miller, his senior adviser, listened during a round-table discussion on border security in the Cabinet Room of the White House on January 11, 2019. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

McEnany, McEntee, Miller, and More: Latest Jan. 6 Subpoenas Go Out for Trump Inner Circle

"We need to know precisely what role the former president and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes."

The U.S. House select committee investigating the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol issued more subpoenas Tuesday, targeting 10 top officials in former President Donald Trump's administration.

Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a statement that the panel "wants to learn every detail of what went on in the White House on January 6th and in the days beforehand."

The panel requested records and testimony from:

  • Cassidy Hutchinson, former special assistant to Trump for legislative affairs;
  • Keith Kellogg, former national security adviser to ex-Vice President Mike Pence;
  • Kenneth Klukowski, former senior counsel to ex-Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark;
  • Christopher Liddell, former White House deputy chief of staff;
  • Nicholas Luna, former personal assistant to Trump;
  • Kayleigh McEnany, former White House press secretary;
  • John McEntee, former White House personnel director;
  • Molly Michael, former special assistant to Trump and Oval Office operations coordinator;
  • Stephen Miller, former senior adviser to Trump; and
  • Benjamin Williamson, former deputy assistant to Trump and senior adviser to ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

"McEntee may have the most far-reaching insight into Trump's mindset after his election defeat," Politico reported, pointing out that he "was at the center of Trump's post-election personnel moves, and was described as the architect of 'purges' of employees deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump. He was also present for key conversations related to Trump's efforts to overturn his loss, according to contemporaneous reports."

A week after the January attack, the House impeached Trump a historic second time for inciting the violent storming of the Capitol with a speech featuring his "Big Lie" that the 2020 November election was stolen from him--a lie that was echoed by his political allies in Congress and beyond both before and after the right-wing mob made U.S. lawmakers flee for their lives.

"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," Thompson said.

"We believe the witnesses subpoenaed today have relevant information," he added, "and we expect them to comply fully with the select committee's 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."

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Trump, who is widely expected to run for president again in 2024, responded to the latest subpoenas with a statement repeating his Big Lie about last year's election. He also called the committee members "ambitious hacks" and took aim at the "LameStream Media."

The panel's announcement came just a day after the committee subpoenaed six other Trump allies "involved in efforts to promote false claims of election fraud or overturn the results."

Monday's subpoenas targeted key members of the Trump 2020 reelection campaign, including manager William Stepien, senior adviser Jason Miller, and national executive assistant Angela McCallum. The panel also issued subpoenas for:

  • John Eastman, who reportedly advised Trump and others that Pence could reject electors from certain states in order to deny now-President Joe Biden a majority of the Electoral College vote;
  • Michael Flynn, who reportedly attended a December 2020 meeting in the Oval Office during which participants discussed seizing voting machines, declaring a national emergency, invoking national security emergency powers, and spreading election fraud lies; and
  • Bernard Kerik, who reportedly participated in a meeting at a Washington, D.C. hotel the day before the Capitol attack and worked with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to investigate allegations of voter fraud.

Noting the lies spread by Trump and his allies before the attack, Thompson said Monday that the panel he chairs "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 connections they had with rallies that escalated into a riot, and who paid for it all."

The committee--which is dominated by Democrats but includes two of the only 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in January--has issued 35 subpoenas total. Politico noted that some of the top Trump aides previously subpoenaed by the panel include "Meadows, social media adviser Dan Scavino, adviser Steve Bannon, and Pentagon official Kash Patel."

While the House voted last month to hold Bannon in criminal contempt over his refusal to submit to the panel's subpoena, the U.S. Department of Justice has so far declined to do anything about it. Attorney General Merrick Garland's inaction on Bannon has been denounced as a "dangerous example," and some critics of his broader failure to hold Trump and others accountable are now calling for Garland's resignation.

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