The Jan. 6 Committee issued subpoenas on Tuesday to three people purportedly involved in discussions with Trump administration officials and rally planners on Jan. 6.
The panel issued subpoenas to Arthur Schwartz, Andy Surabian, and Ross Worthington, all Republican political operatives who worked in support of the Trump administration.
Worthington, the panel’s subpoena says, helped draft the speech that Trump gave on the Ellipse on the morning of Jan. 6, in which he urged the crowd to go to the Capitol and “fight.”
According to the subpoena, Worthington may have focused on voter fraud issues that Trump raised during the speech in support of the Big Lie that the election was stolen.
Schwartz, a friend of Donald Trump Jr. known for screaming at reporters, received a subpoena asking him about how the Ellipse rally was organized. Surabian, another Trump Jr. associate and deputy to Steve Bannon while he was in the White House, received a similar subpoena.
In both cases, the committee asked about communications that the men had with organizers of the rally as well as with speakers, which included Trump, Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), and others.
The panel also wants to know about potential concerns around having Infowars emcee Alex Jones and far-right provocateur Ali Alexander appear, “appearance fees for certain people who did speak at the rally,” and follow-up media coverage.
The committee says that, based on its own investigation, it has reason to believe that Schwartz and Surabian communicated with each other, Trump Jr., Katrina Pierson, Kimberley Guilfoyle, and rally financier Julie Fancelli before Jan. 6.
