The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Thursday subpoenaed the retired Army colonel behind a plan to overturn the 2020 election that circulated the White House during the final days of the Trump administration.
James P. “Phil” Waldron drew the attention of the committee after former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows turned over a 38-page PowerPoint presentation titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN,” which was attached to an email as part of a trove of documents during his period of cooperation with the probe.
“Mr. Waldron reportedly played a role in promoting claims of election fraud and circulating potential strategies for challenging results of the 2020 election,” Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, said in a statement Thursday.
“He was also apparently in communication with officials in the Trump White House and in Congress discussing his theories in the weeks leading up to the January 6th attack,” he said. “The document he reportedly provided to Administration officials and Members of Congress is an alarming blueprint for overturning a nationwide election.”
Mr. Waldron told The New York Times soon after the document was uncovered by the committee that he had circulated the presentation among Trump insiders, including some on Capitol Hill, but said he did not send the document directly to Mr. Meadows.
Mr. Waldron, who spent part of his career in the Army specializing in information warfare, has been a key figure behind claims of election interference by foreign governments, including China, that he says hacked the election.
He was the leader of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s “red team” assigned to investigate the 37 terabytes of “irrefutable” evidence Mr. Lindell claimed to have that he said provided “irrefutable” proof that hackers, backed by China, switched votes in favor of President Biden.
Mr. Waldron was prominent during Mr. Lindell’s three-day Cyber Symposium, during which Mr. Lindell claimed he would publicly present the evidence of the China-backed hack. Mr. Lindell failed to provide such evidence.
Mr. Waldron is also featured in a documentary posted on Mr. Lindell’s website, Frankspeech.com, called “Absolute Proof: Exposing Election Fraud and the Theft of America Foreign and Domestic,” in which he further unpacks the claims.
It is not clear if Mr. Waldron himself was the author behind the PowerPoint that made its way into Mr. Meadows’ inbox and eventually over to the committee.
The committee alleges that Mr. Waldron visited the White House “on multiple occasions,” and has claimed to have spoken to Mr. Meadows directly about election fraud theories, and briefed several members of Congress on the matter. The panel also says Mr. Waldron participated in a January meeting at the Willard Hotel in which attendees allegedly gathered “purported evidence of election fraud.”
“The Select Committee needs to hear from him about all these activities,” Mr. Thompson said.
“We expect him to comply with the law and provide records and testimony as the Select Committee continues its work to get answers for the American people about January 6th, make legislative recommendations to strengthen our democracy, and help ensure nothing like that day ever happens again,” he said.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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