Katrina Pierson, former national spokesperson for the Trump administration, listens during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, July 10, 2021.
Dylan Hollingsworth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol issued subpoenas Wednesday to 11 individuals connected to former President Donald Trump and the pro-Trump group involved in organizing rallies leading up to the insurrection.
The committee is seeking materials and testimony from Katrina Pierson, a spokesperson for Trump’s 2016 campaign, and Maggie Mulvaney, the niece of former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, among others.
All eleven individuals were identified as having been involved with the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally outside of the White House where Trump spoke to his supporters hours before the Capitol attack, according to a press release from the committee.
In addition to Pierson and Mulvaney, the new round of subpoenas targeted individuals affiliated with Women for America First, a pro-Trump dark money group, and other organizations that planned the Jan. 6 rally.
Women for America First also planned a rally on Jan. 5, rallies at Freedom Plaza on Nov. 14 and Dec. 12, 2020 and two “March for Trump” nationwide bus tours. Leaders of the organization, including Amy Kremer, a political operative that was the former head of the Tea Party Express, and Kylie Kremer were among those subpoenaed on Wednesday.
The committee used permit paperwork for the Jan. 6 rally to identify other individuals involved in organizing, according to the press release. The seven other witnesses subpoenaed include:
- Cynthia Chafian, who submitted the first permit application on behalf of Women for America First for the rally.
- Caroline Wren, who was listed on permit paperwork as “VIP Advisor” for the rally.
- Justin Caporale, of Event Strategies, who was listed as the “Project manager.”
- Tim Unes, of Event Strategies, who was listed as “Stage Manager.”
- Megan Powers, of MPowers Consulting, who was listed as “Operations Manager for Scheduling and Guidance.”
- Hannah Salem, of Salem Strategies, who was listed as “Operations Manager for Logistics and Communications.”
- Lyndon Brentnall, of RMS Protective Services, who was listed as “On-Site Supervisor.”
Amy Kremer, Chairwoman of Women for America First, speaks Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, at a rally in support of President Donald Trump called the “Save America Rally.”
Jacquelyn Martin | AP
All witnesses were instructed to turn over documents related to the planning, funding and participation in the rallies prior to the Capitol attack by Oct. 13. They were also ordered to appear for depositions later that month.
“The Select Committee is investigating the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack and issues relating to the peaceful transfer of power, in order to identify and evaluate lessons learned and to recommend to the House and its relevant committees corrective laws, policies, procedures rules, or regulations,” wrote Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the committee, in a statement Wednesday.
The nine-member committee issued subpoenas to four top Trump loyalists last week.
Those people include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and one-time White House advisor Steve Bannon, as well as ex-Defense Department official Kashyap Patel and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Daniel Scavino.
The subpoenas instruct the witnesses to turn over requested materials by Oct. 7 and appear at sworn depositions.
The depositions of Bannon and Patel are set for Oct. 14, while Meadows and Scavino have been instructed to appear for their own depositions on Oct. 15.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, one of the seven Democrats on the committee, last week said that some witnesses would be subpoenaed as a first course of action if they are seen as resistant or hostile to the panel’s goals.
Another committee member, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., told CNN on Monday that if the four Trump allies refuse to testify, the committee is prepared to involve the Department of Justice.
“We want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they will respond as they should to this subpoena,” Lofgren said in that interview.
“If they don’t, I think we will be prepared to take all of the steps available to us, which include civil action and criminal action,” she continued.
The select committee of mostly Democratic lawmakers was formed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after Senate Republicans in May blocked a bill that would have created an independent and bipartisan commission to probe the riot. The panel would have been modeled after one that investigated the 9/11 terror attacks.
Schiff last week that the investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection is moving with “great rapidity.”
Last month, the committee demanded records from 15 social media companies, including Twitter, Google, Facebook and several pro-Trump platforms.
The requested records, which date back as far as the spring of 2020, are related to misinformation and efforts to interfere with the certification of the 2020 election results, the committee said in a press release.
The committee also reached out to 35 private-sector firms, including telecommunications giants AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, and instructed them to turn over records that may be relevant to the investigation.
The newest round of subpoenas come as the committee accelerates its efforts to deliver a definitive analysis of the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to prevent Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Trump, during the “Stop the Steal” rally, pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence and Republican members of Congress to reject election results in key states.
The former president also urged his supporters to march to the Capitol, saying, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
The insurrection led to several deaths, as well as criminal charges against hundreds of people for their involvement in the attack.
