Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann has reportedly been subpoenaed for documents and testimony by a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, a person familiar with the matter told Politico.
Although he did not work in the White House counsel’s office, Herschmann served as a senior adviser to the former president. Herschmann previously represented Trump in his first impeachment trial before later taking on the Trump White House adviser role.
Herschmann’s experience in providing the former president with legal advice will likely lead to challenges over the scope of the subpoena. There are also questions about whether executive and attorney-client privileges may present challenges, Politico noted.
The DOJ’s subpoena to Herschmann comes after the department subpoenaed former Trump White House lawyers Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin.
Herschmann drew public attention in recent months for his candidness in taped depositions aired during the Jan. 6 Select Committee’s public hearings. Herschmann testified about being at odds with other Trump aides and advisers who boosted election steal efforts, including Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn, who urged Trump to call on the military to seize voting machines. Herschmann called baseless claims of widespread election fraud “nuts.”
Herschmann also testified about his reactions to Trump’s desire to install Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump DOJ official who attempted to use department resources to bolster the Big Lie of a stolen election, as acting attorney general. Herschmann recalled telling Clark that his first official act would be “committing a felony.”
“I said … fucking a-hole … congratulations: You’ve just admitted your first step or act you’d take as attorney general would be committing a felony,” Herschmann recalled telling Clark in his testimony.
