Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Giuliani, Other Trump Attorneys
WASHINGTON — The Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the United States Capitol issued subpoenas Tuesday evening to Rudolph Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn.
In a tweet, the committee said simply, “The four individuals advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn election results, or were in direct contact with the former president.”
Adding later: “We expect these individuals to join the nearly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the Select Committee as the committee works to get answers for the American people about the violent attack on our democracy.”
Each is believed to have played related but different roles in Trump’s bid to hold onto his office.
Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has often been portrayed in the media as the leader of the group of willing alleged co-conspirators.
Jenna Ellis is best known for penning a memo on how Trump could overturn the election by exploiting certain provisions of the Electoral Count Act. She argued those provisions, which restricted Vice President Mike Pence’s authority to accept or reject selected state electors, were unconstitutional.
Sidney Powell, meanwhile, gained credibility in the Trump camp early on in the administration after she claimed that Michael Flynn’s downfall was the result of his being framed by a covert “deep state” operation. Later, she promoted personalities and slogans associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Trump’s legal team eventually distanced itself from her, but she continued to meet with the president in the White House.
She also raised millions of dollars by accusing the election technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic of engaging in a conspiracy to rig the election against Trump. Both companies have sued her for defamation.
The final lawyer subpoenaed Tuesday, Boris Epshteyn, actively pursued allegations of election fraud in the key battleground states of Nevada and Arizona and is believed to have spoken with Trump by phone on the morning of Jan. 6.
All four publicly defended the president and his baseless voter fraud claims in the months after the 2020 election.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue
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