Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Giuliani, other pro-Trump lawyers over Capitol riot

The US House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has subpoenaed three lawyers who joined the unsuccessful attempt by former President Donald Trump to overturn his election defeat in 2020.

The committee on Tuesday issued subpoenas to Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, his former campaign attorneys Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, as well as his 2020 strategic adviser Boris Epshteyn.

The group prepared legal arguments following the former president’s loss and pushed his baseless claims of election fraud alongside campaign efforts that focused on the congressional certification on Jan. 6.

Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's chairman, said the panel wants the lawyers to join the roughly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the Select Committee as part of its probe into the causes of the deadly riot by Trump supporters.

“The Select Committee is looking into the causes that contributed to the violence on January 6th, including attempts to promote unsupported claims of election fraud and pressure campaigns to overturn the 2020 election results. 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,” Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a statement.

The subpoena to Giuliani focuses both on his ability to offer insight into Trump’s state of mind in the days surrounding Jan. 6 as well as his effort to push his claims in appearances on television and in court rooms across the country.

“You 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 wrote in its subpoena to Giuliani.

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Robert Costello, a lawyer for Giuliani, called the subpoena "political theater," saying his client was constrained by the legal doctrines of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege.

"I don't think there's anything here he can testify about," Costello said.

The committee plans to release an interim report in the summer and a final report in the fall, according to Reuters which cited a source familiar with the investigation.

Meanwhile, CNN reported Tuesday that the committee has subpoenaed and obtained records of phone numbers associated with Trump's son Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, former Trump adviser and fiancée to Donald Trump Jr.

The records are part of a new round of call records requested from communication companies. They include incoming and outgoing calls, the dates they were made, the duration and the times of the calls.

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