Donald Trump’s former national security advisor and pardon recipient Michael Flynn has been subpoenaed as part of the Jan. 6 Committee’s ongoing investigation of the attack on Congress.
Also on the list: John Eastman, the lawyer who advised Trump on his legal options for stealing a second term, and Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Bill Stepien.
Jason Miller, a senior advisor to Trump’s campaign, and Angela McCallum, the national executive assistant on the campaign, were also subpoenaed by the committee. So was Bernard Kerik, the Trump pardon recipient, Giuliani consigliere and former New York City police commissioner.
The committee is currently seeking criminal contempt charges against one previous subpoena recipient, Steve Bannon, for refusing to testify. And there could be more on the way: After former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who aided Trump’s effort to stay in power, refused the committee’s request to testify, Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said more contempt charges were “on the table.”
Letters from Thompson to the subpoenaed individuals Monday laid out their connections to the Capitol attack and the weeks preceding it.
“You reportedly attended a December 18, 2020, meeting in the Oval Office during which participants discussed seizing voting machines, declaring a national emergency, invoking certain national security emergency powers, and continuing to spread the message that the November 2020 election had been tainted by widespread fraud,” the letter to Flynn read, linking to an Axios report about the off-the-walls meeting.
Eastman’s letter, the longest of the batch, went over his role advising Trump on strategies to interrupt the Electoral College counting process and remain in power. It also noted, “you were at the Willard Hotel ‘war room’ with Steve Bannon and others on the days leading up to January 6 where the focus was on delaying or blocking the certification of the election.”
Thompson’s letter noted that, though Eastman served as an attorney for Trump, the lawyer has also commented publicly on a podcast “that President Trump has authorized you to discuss the matters at issue, thus waiving any applicable attorney-client and attorney work product privileges,” according to the letter.
