January 6 Committee subpoenas ‘alternate electors’ in seven states

The House select committee investigating the January 6 riot subpoenaed “alternate electors” from seven states who planned to cast their votes for former president Donald Trump as part of their investigation.

The committee sent subpoenas to the chairperson and committee secretary for each group of “alternate electors” from Arizona, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada.

“Based on publicly available information and information provided to the Select Committee, we believe that you have documents and information that are relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation,” a letter from committee Chairman Bennie Thompson sent to Nancy Cottle, who was one of the “alternate electors” from Arizona.

“For example, according to documents sent to the National Archives, you were a purported Electoral College elector who met with other purported electors on or about December 14, 2020 to cast votes for former President Trump and former Vice President Pence despite the fact that your state had made a final determination that Joseph Biden, Jr. and Kamala Harris were the winners of the November 2020 presidential election and the appointment of their electors had been certified.”

In December, Mr Thompson wrote in a letter to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’s lawyer that on 6 November in 2020, a member of Congress texted Mr Meadows, describing plans “apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain states as part of a plan that the member acknowledged would be ‘highly controversial,' and to which Mr. Meadows apparently said, ‘I love it.’”

The House of Representatives voted to hold Mr Meadows in contempt of Congress. Similarly, it also voted to hold former Trump administration official Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress.