The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol on Tuesday issued subpoenas targeting former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, senior advisor Stephen Miller and eight others linked to former President Trump.
Tuesday’s demands come a day after the committee issued a round of subpoenas targeting six other Trump insiders, including retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the onetime national security advisor who the committee says promoted false claims of election fraud and “planned ways to stop the count of Electoral College votes.”
“The Select Committee wants to learn every detail of what went on in the White House on January 6th and in the days beforehand,” said Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chairs the committee. “We need to know precisely what role the former president and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election.”
Mr. Trump has condemned the committee’s probe as a partisan witch hunt, and the House GOP leadership has largely shunned its work after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed Republican lawmakers nominated to serve on the panel.
Mr. Miller and Ms. McEnany are the most prominent figures included in Tuesday’s list.
The committee alleges that Mr. Miller “by his own account” helped spread false allegations of voter fraud following the November 2020 election and encouraged state legislatures to attempt to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory at the polls “by appointing alternate state electors.”
Ms. McEnany, the committee said, “made multiple public statements from the White House and elsewhere about purported fraud in the November 2020 election,” and was reportedly with Mr. Trump on Jan. 6 as he watched the attack on the Capitol designed to prevent Mr. Biden’s victory from being certified.
The committee also named Kenneth Klukowski, who is the former senior counsel to Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, for his involvement in drafting a letter urging certain state legislators to delay certifying the election.
Mr. Clark was subpoenaed by the committee last month for proposing to his bosses that the Justice Department send letters to certain state legislators to delay the election certification. The committee alleges that Mr. Trump considered appointing Mr. Clark as acting attorney general as a result of his efforts, and Mr. Klukowski spoke with Mr. Clark before a White House meeting on the appointment.
Mr. Clark declined to answer questions posed by the panel in a scheduled deposition last week. Mr. Trump reportedly decided against his nomination when the senior leadership at the Justice Department threatened to quit if he followed through.
Other former Trump aides subpoenaed on Tuesday included personal assistant Nicholas Luna; special assistant Molly Michael; deputy assistant Ben Williamson; deputy chief of staff Christopher Liddell; personnel director John McEntee; and special assistant Cassidy Hutchinson.
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s National Security Advisor Keith Kellogg is included in the sweep. The committee said it believes Mr. Kellogg was present with Mr. Trump during the attack on the Capitol and has “information about the former president’s statements about, and reactions to, the Capitol insurrection.” Mr. Kellogg urged Mr. Trump to release a statement on Twitter to help control the crowd, according to the committee.
“We believe the witnesses subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to comply fully with the Select Committee’s investigation as we work to get answers for the American people, make recommendations on changes to the law to protect our democracy, and help ensure that nothing like January 6th ever happens again,” Mr. Thompson said.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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