Congress's Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani And More Trump Allies

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

WASHINGTON – The House committee investigating the Capitol riots is issuing a new batch of subpoenas to four of Donald Trump’s closest allies in his failed legal fight to overturn the 2020 election: Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Boris Epshteyn.

“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,” Chair Bennie Thompson said in a statement announcing the move.

The committee explicitly said the four “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 members are looking for interviews with the four as well as documents related to their work around the 2020 election.

That was not the only news out of the committee on Tuesday: It has also subpoenaed and obtained call data records from the former president's son Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is in a relationship with Donald Trump, Jr. That step was first reported Tuesday by CNN, and confirmed by a committee member.

In its letters to Giuliani, Ellis, Powell, and Epshteyn, the committee said it had “revealed credible evidence” that they had “publicly promoted claims that the 2020 election was stolen and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of the election results.” Some of that advocacy for false election conspiracy theories was not especially secret: Members of the group held multiple press conferences in 2020 advancing the idea.

The committee also said in its letter to Giuliani that the former mayor was reportedly in contact with members of Congress and Trump about strategies of overturning the 2020 election that Trump lost.

In its letter to Ellis, a former Trump 2020 campaign legal adviser, the committee took interest in two memos she prepared and circulated claiming to analyze the authority for then–vice president Mike Pence to reject or delay the Electoral College vote even though Pence did not have the authority to do so.

Powell, who has been involved in several lawsuits related to claims of fraud and has been ridiculed for it in court, was subpoenaed under similar terms, with the committee also seeking information on her reportedly urging Trump to seize voting machines.

The committee is also investigating whether there was a coordinated effort to promote election falsehoods in the days before Jan. 6 among a group of strategists, including Epshteyn, at the Willard Hotel. The committee is also looking into a Jan 6. phone call it says Epshteyn had with Trump to discuss alternatives in the event Pence declined to delay the certification of the 2020 election.

“It is no surprise whatsoever that the illegitimate January 6th Unselect Committee would attempt to subpoena attorneys as it continues its Stalinist witch hunt against President Trump and his supporters,” Epshteyn said in a statement.

So far, some Trump allies have resisted complying with the committee’s subpoenas. Two — former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former political adviser Steve Bannon — were found in contempt of Congress for it; Bannon was later indicted.

More on this