POLITICO
"Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Roger Stone and Alex Jones - The panel investigating the attack on the Capitol also targeted rally promoters Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence, and Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich."
By BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN and NICHOLAS WU
11/22/2021 05:20 PM EST
Updated: 11/24/2021 10:09 AM EST
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is charging ahead with subpoenas on some longtime denizens of Trump World: InfoWars head Alex Jones, self-described dirty trickster Roger Stone, and rally promoters Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence.
The committee is also subpoenaing former President Donald Trump’s current spokesperson, Taylor Budowich.
“The Select Committee is seeking information about the rallies and subsequent march to the Capitol that escalated into a violent mob attacking the Capitol and threatening our democracy,” Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a statement.
“We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress.”
The panel demanded all of its subpoena targets turn over relevant documents by Dec. 6.
Depositions were scheduled for them the following week.
Monday’s batch of subpoenas focuses on the funding and organization of rallies on Jan. 5 and 6, as well as the march from the rally at the Ellipse to the Capitol.
Jones and Stone gave speeches to Trump supporters on Jan. 5, urging them to push back against the election results.
“I don’t know how this is all going to end, but if they want to fight, they better believe they’ve got one,” Jones told a crowd at Freedom Plaza in Washington the night before the attack, as PBS detailed.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Jones helped secure funding for the Jan. 6 rally.
Jones was recorded telling the crowd to deescalate and avoid conflicts with police on Jan. 6.
Prosecutors have stated in court filings since the attack that police did not see Jones' attempts at deescalation as helpful amid the chaos that day and came after Jones had led a large throng of Trump supporters into a restricted area of the Capitol.
For Jones, the committee’s demand is just the latest in a series of legal issues.
A court last week found him liable for defamation in a lawsuit brought by parents of children killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have also removed pages associated with Jones and his Infowars show for violating the services’ community standards.
Jones said Tuesday on his web show he would likely plead the Fifth Amendment to the select panel out of concern he would be prosecuted for lying to Congress.
He did not address the panel's demand for documents, but he said if he did testify, he would "probably do it" if he were allowed to testify publicly and live.
Stone, meanwhile, raised money for “private security” on Jan. 5 and 6, and called for people attending a Jan. 5 rally to join an “epic struggle,” as Mother Jones has reported.
He has defended his comments that day.
In August, a group of Capitol Police officers sued him and a host of other defendants — including Trump himself — alleging civil rights violations.
The suit accused Stone of actively participating in “Trump’s strategy to disseminate false claims of election fraud,” and of helping popularize the #StopTheSteal slogan.
A process server presented Stone with the lawsuit on Sept. 15 while he was on a talk radio show.
“This is a big, big stack of papers, which is good because we're out of toilet paper today,” Stone told the hosts.
He later called the suit “baseless, groundless, and unsubstantiated” in an email to CNN.
Stone in a statement said he had not yet been served by the committee, nor had he seen the details of the information requested, but he would determine his course of action after reviewing the requests with his lawyer.
“I have said time and time again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place at the Capitol on that day."
"Any statement, claim, insinuation, or report alleging, or even implying, that I had any involvement in or knowledge, whether advance or contemporaneous, about the commission of any unlawful acts by any person or group in or around the U.S. Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, is categorically false,” he said.
Stockton and Lawrence, who are a couple, participated in a detailed POLITICO profile that ran last week.
The two had taken part in a bus tour in swing states in the weeks after Election Day 2020 to trumpet false claims of election fraud, and promoted the Jan. 6 rally in the weeks leading up to it.
Trump’s retweet of one of Lawrence’s posts was used as evidence during his impeachment trial later that month.
Lawrence sued the firm that made the House impeachment managers’ graphics, alleging defamation.
Stockton took questions from committee investigators at the end of October, POLITICO had first reported, and the pair said in the profile they had reached out to the panel about voluntarily testifying.
Stockton and Lawrence said in a statement they had been expecting the subpoenas but believed the timing of them during the week of Thanksgiving was "further demonstration that this committee is not acting in good faith."
The two said they were committed to "transparency" about the events of Jan. 6 and would "pray for the opportunity to share our experiences to the public without the taint of misinformation that has become customary."
The committee also subpoenaed Budowich, Trump’s spokesperson, who has fielded media inquiries for the former president about the Jan. 6 probe itself.
Budowich was formerly the executive director of the Tea Party Express.
He also helped oversee the Save the U.S. Senate super PAC, which tried to help Republicans win in the 2020 Georgia Senate runoff elections, as POLITICO previously reported.
Republicans narrowly lost both races, handing control of the Senate to Democrats.
Budowich did not respond to a request for comment.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/2 ... nes-523193
THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
CNN
"New January 6 committee subpoenas issued for 5 Trump allies including Roger Stone and Alex Jones"
By Zachary Cohen, Ryan Nobles, Annie Grayer and Whitney Wild, CNN
Updated 8:57 PM ET, Mon November 22, 2021
(CNN)The House select committee investigating the January 6 riot issued a new round of subpoenas on Monday to five of former President Donald Trump's allies directly involved in planning "Stop the Steal" rallies, including longtime Republican operative Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
The latest batch of subpoenas indicates the committee continues to focus, in part, on organizers and funding of the "Stop the Steal" rallies that took place on January 5 and 6, as well as earlier rallies in the months leading up to the US Capitol attack.
Also subpoenaed by the committee Monday: Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence, key players in the "Stop the Steal" movement after the election, who the committee noted are engaged to each other.
Stockton was one of the administrators of a "Stop the Steal" Facebook group that amassed hundreds of thousands of followers before it was shut down by the social media company on November 5 -- the day after it was launched.
According to the committee's subpoena letter, Stockton helped organize a series of rallies after the November 2020 election up to the rally held at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, on January 6, aimed at supporting then-President Trump and his claims of election fraud.
Taylor Budowich, who is currently the primary political spokesperson for the former President and serves as communications director for the Save America PAC, was the final individual subpoenaed Monday.
"The Select Committee is seeking information about the rallies and subsequent march to the Capitol that escalated into a violent mob attacking the Capitol and threatening our democracy."
"We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress," Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs the committee, said in a statement.
"We believe the witnesses we subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to cooperate fully with our effort to get answers for the American people about the violence of January 6th," he added.
The committee is asking the five individuals to produce documents on December 6 and has scheduled deposition dates for them throughout mid-December.
Alex Jones
In its letter to Jones, the committee cites press reports and his own statements to claim that Jones worked with January 6 rally organizers Cindy Chafian and Caroline Wren, both of whom have been subpoenaed by the select committee, in "facilitating a donor, now known to be Julie Fancelli, to provide what [he] characterized as 'eighty percent' of the funding" for the rally held on the Ellipse on January 6.
The committee states that Jones was denied a speaking spot at the January 6 rally but that his previous comments indicate he was designated to "lead a march to the Capitol, where President Trump would meet the group."
The committee acknowledged specifically that once at the Capitol, Jones told people "not to be violent" and to gather and wait for Trump to speak.
Even though Trump never came to the Capitol, the committee said the location where Jones told people to wait "coincided" with the same place that "Stop the Steal" rally organizer Ali Alexander obtained a permit for that day.
In March, CNN reported that police in Washington, DC, were investigating an allegation that Jones threatened to push another pro-Trump political organizer off of an event stage in December, according to people familiar with the incident.
The allegation was filed with DC police by Kylie Jane Kremer, executive director of the organization Women for America First, a group that helped organize a series of post-election rallies, including one in a park south of the White House that preceded the Capitol riot on January 6.
Kremer was previously subpoenaed by the select committee.
The alleged threat occurred outside the Willard InterContinental hotel, located about two blocks from the White House, according to the police report.
The Willard served as an election-related "command center" for Trump allies around January 6, and the committee has expressed significant interest in learning more about what was happening there at that time.
Taylor Budowich
In its subpoena letter, the committee said Budowich "reportedly solicited a 501c(4) organization to conduct a social media and radio advertising campaign encouraging attendance at the January 6th Ellipse rally and advancing unsupported claims about the result of the election."
The committee cited information on file with the panel to claim that Budowich directed approximately $200,000 from a source or sources to the 501(c)(4) that was "not disclosed to the organization to pay for the advertising campaign."
Budowich was a senior adviser for the Trump 2020 campaign, specifically working with Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle.
He is a longtime right-wing political operative, working as senior communications adviser for Ron DeSantis during his successful campaign for governor of Florida in 2018 and once served as executive director of the Tea Party Express.
The committee might have particular interest in Budowich's connection to Guilfoyle.
The former Fox News personality played a big role in the planning and preparation of the January 6 rallies.
The committee also cited Wren as potentially being "involved in facilitating the transfer of some or all of those funds" that the committee claims Budowich is connected to.
CNN has reached out to Budowich for comment.
Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence
In its subpoena letter to Stockton, the committee cited press reports to claim that he was among the group of rally organizers who communicated with Trump and other White House officials, including Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who has been in an emerging standoff with the committee over his subpoena.
The committee claimed that Stockton was among those who warned the White House of the possible danger from an unpermitted march that would reach the Capitol while Congress was certifying election results, and that Stockton specifically expressed his concerns to Katrina Pierson, a former Trump campaign official reportedly involved in the organization of the January 5 and January 6 rallies who served as a liaison between rally organizers and the White House.
The committee said Pierson, who has also been subpoenaed, told Stockton and fellow rally organizer Amy Kremer, who has also been subpoenaed, that she would relay that information to Meadows.
Stone, Jones, Stockton and Lawrence also have longstanding ties to Trump ally Steve Bannon, who is awaiting trial on contempt of Congress charges stemming from his refusal to cooperate with a subpoena from the committee.
Both Stockton and Lawrence were involved in Bannon's "We Build the Wall" crowdfunding group, and in August 2020, federal agents raided their recreational vehicle in Mesquite, Nevada, hours before prosecutors unsealed charges accusing others involved in the group, including Bannon.
Stockton and Lawrence released a statement Monday evening saying they had expected the subpoenas, but added, "We are concerned that the timing during the week of Thanksgiving, while most normal business is closed, is further demonstration that this committee is not acting in good faith."
"In the many months since January 6th we have granted many reporters and outlets extensive on-the-record interviews because we are committed to getting to the truth about what happened."
"We remain committed to that transparency and pray for the opportunity to share our experiences to the public without the taint of misinformation that has become customary," Stockton and Lawrence continued.
Roger Stone
Meanwhile, the origins of the "Stop the Steal" slogan can be traced to Stone, a self-described "dirty trickster" whose 40-month prison sentence for seven felonies was cut short by Trump's commutation last July.
A combination of documents provided to the select committee, press reports and Stone's statements demonstrate how he not only promoted his appearance at a January 6 "Stop the Steal" event, but solicited donations for it and stated his purpose at the rally was to "lead a march to the Capitol," according to the panel's subpoena letter to him.
The committee added that, according to media reports, Stone used members of the Oath Keepers as personal security guards, several of whom stormed the Capitol and at least one who has been indicted, while he was in Washington.
Stone told CNN affiliate KOKI Monday night, "I would probably assert my 5th Amendment right, decline to be interviewed."
In a statement earlier Monday responding to the subpoena, Stone called the allegations "categorically false."
"I have said time and time again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place at the Capitol on that day."
"Any statement, claim, insinuation, or report alleging, or even implying, that I had any involvement in or knowledge, whether advance or contemporaneous, about the commission of any unlawful acts by any person or group in or around the U.S. Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, is categorically false," he said.
Stone was involved in the "Stop the Steal" movement's rise to prominence around the 2020 election.
Along with Bannon and Jones, he was among the most notable voices pushing conspiracy theories in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election.
At the time, Stone appeared on Jones' far-right radio show to trumpet groundless claims that Joe Biden was trying to steal the election, and Bannon echoed similar conspiracy theories on his podcast, calling the election "a mass fraud."
Following the last major House inquiry into election integrity, after the 2016 election, Stone was convicted in federal court of obstructing Congress and telling five lies, about his efforts to contact WikiLeaks on behalf of the Trump campaign.
He had sat for a more than a three-hour interview in 2017 with a Republican-led House committee.
At his criminal trial, which occurred before the end of the Trump administration, the Justice Department successfully argued Stone lied to Congress to protect Trump.
Trump later pardoned him.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
Katelyn Polantz and Giovanna Van Leeuwen contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/politics ... index.html
"New January 6 committee subpoenas issued for 5 Trump allies including Roger Stone and Alex Jones"
By Zachary Cohen, Ryan Nobles, Annie Grayer and Whitney Wild, CNN
Updated 8:57 PM ET, Mon November 22, 2021
(CNN)The House select committee investigating the January 6 riot issued a new round of subpoenas on Monday to five of former President Donald Trump's allies directly involved in planning "Stop the Steal" rallies, including longtime Republican operative Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
The latest batch of subpoenas indicates the committee continues to focus, in part, on organizers and funding of the "Stop the Steal" rallies that took place on January 5 and 6, as well as earlier rallies in the months leading up to the US Capitol attack.
Also subpoenaed by the committee Monday: Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence, key players in the "Stop the Steal" movement after the election, who the committee noted are engaged to each other.
Stockton was one of the administrators of a "Stop the Steal" Facebook group that amassed hundreds of thousands of followers before it was shut down by the social media company on November 5 -- the day after it was launched.
According to the committee's subpoena letter, Stockton helped organize a series of rallies after the November 2020 election up to the rally held at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, on January 6, aimed at supporting then-President Trump and his claims of election fraud.
Taylor Budowich, who is currently the primary political spokesperson for the former President and serves as communications director for the Save America PAC, was the final individual subpoenaed Monday.
"The Select Committee is seeking information about the rallies and subsequent march to the Capitol that escalated into a violent mob attacking the Capitol and threatening our democracy."
"We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress," Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs the committee, said in a statement.
"We believe the witnesses we subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to cooperate fully with our effort to get answers for the American people about the violence of January 6th," he added.
The committee is asking the five individuals to produce documents on December 6 and has scheduled deposition dates for them throughout mid-December.
Alex Jones
In its letter to Jones, the committee cites press reports and his own statements to claim that Jones worked with January 6 rally organizers Cindy Chafian and Caroline Wren, both of whom have been subpoenaed by the select committee, in "facilitating a donor, now known to be Julie Fancelli, to provide what [he] characterized as 'eighty percent' of the funding" for the rally held on the Ellipse on January 6.
The committee states that Jones was denied a speaking spot at the January 6 rally but that his previous comments indicate he was designated to "lead a march to the Capitol, where President Trump would meet the group."
The committee acknowledged specifically that once at the Capitol, Jones told people "not to be violent" and to gather and wait for Trump to speak.
Even though Trump never came to the Capitol, the committee said the location where Jones told people to wait "coincided" with the same place that "Stop the Steal" rally organizer Ali Alexander obtained a permit for that day.
In March, CNN reported that police in Washington, DC, were investigating an allegation that Jones threatened to push another pro-Trump political organizer off of an event stage in December, according to people familiar with the incident.
The allegation was filed with DC police by Kylie Jane Kremer, executive director of the organization Women for America First, a group that helped organize a series of post-election rallies, including one in a park south of the White House that preceded the Capitol riot on January 6.
Kremer was previously subpoenaed by the select committee.
The alleged threat occurred outside the Willard InterContinental hotel, located about two blocks from the White House, according to the police report.
The Willard served as an election-related "command center" for Trump allies around January 6, and the committee has expressed significant interest in learning more about what was happening there at that time.
Taylor Budowich
In its subpoena letter, the committee said Budowich "reportedly solicited a 501c(4) organization to conduct a social media and radio advertising campaign encouraging attendance at the January 6th Ellipse rally and advancing unsupported claims about the result of the election."
The committee cited information on file with the panel to claim that Budowich directed approximately $200,000 from a source or sources to the 501(c)(4) that was "not disclosed to the organization to pay for the advertising campaign."
Budowich was a senior adviser for the Trump 2020 campaign, specifically working with Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle.
He is a longtime right-wing political operative, working as senior communications adviser for Ron DeSantis during his successful campaign for governor of Florida in 2018 and once served as executive director of the Tea Party Express.
The committee might have particular interest in Budowich's connection to Guilfoyle.
The former Fox News personality played a big role in the planning and preparation of the January 6 rallies.
The committee also cited Wren as potentially being "involved in facilitating the transfer of some or all of those funds" that the committee claims Budowich is connected to.
CNN has reached out to Budowich for comment.
Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence
In its subpoena letter to Stockton, the committee cited press reports to claim that he was among the group of rally organizers who communicated with Trump and other White House officials, including Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who has been in an emerging standoff with the committee over his subpoena.
The committee claimed that Stockton was among those who warned the White House of the possible danger from an unpermitted march that would reach the Capitol while Congress was certifying election results, and that Stockton specifically expressed his concerns to Katrina Pierson, a former Trump campaign official reportedly involved in the organization of the January 5 and January 6 rallies who served as a liaison between rally organizers and the White House.
The committee said Pierson, who has also been subpoenaed, told Stockton and fellow rally organizer Amy Kremer, who has also been subpoenaed, that she would relay that information to Meadows.
Stone, Jones, Stockton and Lawrence also have longstanding ties to Trump ally Steve Bannon, who is awaiting trial on contempt of Congress charges stemming from his refusal to cooperate with a subpoena from the committee.
Both Stockton and Lawrence were involved in Bannon's "We Build the Wall" crowdfunding group, and in August 2020, federal agents raided their recreational vehicle in Mesquite, Nevada, hours before prosecutors unsealed charges accusing others involved in the group, including Bannon.
Stockton and Lawrence released a statement Monday evening saying they had expected the subpoenas, but added, "We are concerned that the timing during the week of Thanksgiving, while most normal business is closed, is further demonstration that this committee is not acting in good faith."
"In the many months since January 6th we have granted many reporters and outlets extensive on-the-record interviews because we are committed to getting to the truth about what happened."
"We remain committed to that transparency and pray for the opportunity to share our experiences to the public without the taint of misinformation that has become customary," Stockton and Lawrence continued.
Roger Stone
Meanwhile, the origins of the "Stop the Steal" slogan can be traced to Stone, a self-described "dirty trickster" whose 40-month prison sentence for seven felonies was cut short by Trump's commutation last July.
A combination of documents provided to the select committee, press reports and Stone's statements demonstrate how he not only promoted his appearance at a January 6 "Stop the Steal" event, but solicited donations for it and stated his purpose at the rally was to "lead a march to the Capitol," according to the panel's subpoena letter to him.
The committee added that, according to media reports, Stone used members of the Oath Keepers as personal security guards, several of whom stormed the Capitol and at least one who has been indicted, while he was in Washington.
Stone told CNN affiliate KOKI Monday night, "I would probably assert my 5th Amendment right, decline to be interviewed."
In a statement earlier Monday responding to the subpoena, Stone called the allegations "categorically false."
"I have said time and time again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place at the Capitol on that day."
"Any statement, claim, insinuation, or report alleging, or even implying, that I had any involvement in or knowledge, whether advance or contemporaneous, about the commission of any unlawful acts by any person or group in or around the U.S. Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, is categorically false," he said.
Stone was involved in the "Stop the Steal" movement's rise to prominence around the 2020 election.
Along with Bannon and Jones, he was among the most notable voices pushing conspiracy theories in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election.
At the time, Stone appeared on Jones' far-right radio show to trumpet groundless claims that Joe Biden was trying to steal the election, and Bannon echoed similar conspiracy theories on his podcast, calling the election "a mass fraud."
Following the last major House inquiry into election integrity, after the 2016 election, Stone was convicted in federal court of obstructing Congress and telling five lies, about his efforts to contact WikiLeaks on behalf of the Trump campaign.
He had sat for a more than a three-hour interview in 2017 with a Republican-led House committee.
At his criminal trial, which occurred before the end of the Trump administration, the Justice Department successfully argued Stone lied to Congress to protect Trump.
Trump later pardoned him.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
Katelyn Polantz and Giovanna Van Leeuwen contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/politics ... index.html
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
NPR
"Roger Stone, Alex Jones among new subpoenas issued by Jan. 6 panel"
CLAUDIA GRISALES
Heard on Morning Edition
Updated November 23, 20219:23 AM ET
The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued five new subpoenas to several ex-Trump allies, including Roger Stone and InfoWars founder Alex Jones.
The committee said the subpoenas are focused on the planning and financing of Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 rallies in Washington, D.C., the subsequent march and deadly riot.
With this latest wave, the panel has now issued 40 subpoenas in its probe.
"The Select Committee is seeking information about the rallies and subsequent march to the Capitol that escalated into a violent mob attacking the Capitol and threatening our democracy," the committee's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement.
"We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress."
The subpoenas, which include demands for records and testimony, were also issued for Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, Dustin Stockton, and his fiancé, Jennifer Lynn Lawrence.
Both were involved in the rallies, the committee said.
Budowich did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Stockton and Lawrence issued a joint statement attacking the committee for issuing the subpoenas during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday, but said it was not a surprise and they remain committed to transparency.
All the new witnesses were told they are due to turn over documents and testify by mid-December.
Before this new wave of testimony and document demands, the committee issued nearly three dozen subpoenas for former Trump officials, advisers and Jan. 6 rally organizers.
So far, the committee has met with about 200 unnamed witnesses, who spoke voluntarily, received 25,000 pages of documents and has gotten more than 200 tips through a hotline, said California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the panel.
Roger Stone, Alex Jones key figures ahead of attack
Stone, who was pardoned by the former president for several crimes tied to a congressional probe into the Trump 2016 campaign, participated in "Stop the Steal" efforts, the panel said.
Through an attorney, Stone said in a statement that he had not been served his subpoena and has not seen the details of what he may be asked to provide.
Stone declined having any information related to the attack that took place.
"I have said time and time again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place at the Capitol on that day," Stone said.
"Any statement, claim, insinuation, or report alleging, or even implying, that I had any involvement in or knowledge, whether advance or contemporaneous, about the commission of any unlawful acts by any person or group in or around the U.S. Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, is categorically false."
Stone said after his subpoena is served, he'll make a determination on how to proceed after consulting with his attorney.
The committee said Stone was in D.C. on Jan. 5 & 6, spoke at a Jan. 5 rally and was scheduled to speak on Jan. 6.
He also sought financial support to pay for his security through a Stop the Steal website, lawmakers said.
Stone also made remarks he was planning to "lead a march to the Capitol" from the Ellipse rally, according to the panel.
Before the siege, Stone was a guest at the Willard Hotel, where several prominent Trump allies met in part to plot how to overturn President Biden's election, according to the panel.
That hotel meeting and guests are major areas of interest for the committee; Stone joins other subpoenaed guests who were also at the hotel, including former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, attorney John Eastman, ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn and Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner who was later sent to prison and then pardoned by Donald Trump.
The panel says its focus on Jones, the controversial Austin, Texas figure, is tied to his help organizing the rally at the Ellipse before the riot on Jan. 6.
Jones claimed to facilitate a donation that covered significant funding for the event, and spoke at a Jan. 6 event at Freedom Plaza.
Jones claimed he was told by the Trump White House that he was to lead a march from the Jan. 6th Ellipse rally to the Capitol.
Jones was also a key figure in the spread of false election fraud claims.
Monday evening, Jones issued a statement through his website claiming he was "trying to stop" the Capitol riot.
Court fight over release of Trump documents continues
Monday's demands comes on the same day the committee and the National Archives responded to Trump's arguments to an appellate court to stop a release of Jan. 6-related documents.
Trump appealed a district court ruling earlier this month that would have sent hundreds of pages of records to the committee.
The lawsuit came after Biden had waived executive privilege over Trump documents.
Last week, Trump's legal team filed a brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit arguing a dispute between a former and sitting president highlights the critical concerns over executive privilege.
Another ruling in favor of the committee, Trump argued, would have a direct impact on the advice Biden and future presidents can obtain without fear of public disclosure.
But the defendants in the case, the committee and the National Archives, slammed those claims.
For example, the legal team for the committee said Trump failed to demonstrate how withholding the documents would harm the office of the presidency.
"The only harm that Mr. Trump asserts is that the release of the requested records will compromise the interests of the Executive Branch," the committee said in its filing on Monday.
But "that assertion of harm is far outweighed by the surpassing public interest in a complete and timely investigation of the attack on the Capitol, as President Biden has determined."
With an expedited schedule in place, the appellate court is set to hear oral arguments in the case next week, on Tuesday, Nov. 30.
NPR's Ryan Lucas contributed to this story.
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/22/10570381 ... el-capitol
"Roger Stone, Alex Jones among new subpoenas issued by Jan. 6 panel"
CLAUDIA GRISALES
Heard on Morning Edition
Updated November 23, 20219:23 AM ET
The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued five new subpoenas to several ex-Trump allies, including Roger Stone and InfoWars founder Alex Jones.
The committee said the subpoenas are focused on the planning and financing of Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 rallies in Washington, D.C., the subsequent march and deadly riot.
With this latest wave, the panel has now issued 40 subpoenas in its probe.
"The Select Committee is seeking information about the rallies and subsequent march to the Capitol that escalated into a violent mob attacking the Capitol and threatening our democracy," the committee's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement.
"We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress."
The subpoenas, which include demands for records and testimony, were also issued for Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, Dustin Stockton, and his fiancé, Jennifer Lynn Lawrence.
Both were involved in the rallies, the committee said.
Budowich did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Stockton and Lawrence issued a joint statement attacking the committee for issuing the subpoenas during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday, but said it was not a surprise and they remain committed to transparency.
All the new witnesses were told they are due to turn over documents and testify by mid-December.
Before this new wave of testimony and document demands, the committee issued nearly three dozen subpoenas for former Trump officials, advisers and Jan. 6 rally organizers.
So far, the committee has met with about 200 unnamed witnesses, who spoke voluntarily, received 25,000 pages of documents and has gotten more than 200 tips through a hotline, said California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the panel.
Roger Stone, Alex Jones key figures ahead of attack
Stone, who was pardoned by the former president for several crimes tied to a congressional probe into the Trump 2016 campaign, participated in "Stop the Steal" efforts, the panel said.
Through an attorney, Stone said in a statement that he had not been served his subpoena and has not seen the details of what he may be asked to provide.
Stone declined having any information related to the attack that took place.
"I have said time and time again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place at the Capitol on that day," Stone said.
"Any statement, claim, insinuation, or report alleging, or even implying, that I had any involvement in or knowledge, whether advance or contemporaneous, about the commission of any unlawful acts by any person or group in or around the U.S. Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, is categorically false."
Stone said after his subpoena is served, he'll make a determination on how to proceed after consulting with his attorney.
The committee said Stone was in D.C. on Jan. 5 & 6, spoke at a Jan. 5 rally and was scheduled to speak on Jan. 6.
He also sought financial support to pay for his security through a Stop the Steal website, lawmakers said.
Stone also made remarks he was planning to "lead a march to the Capitol" from the Ellipse rally, according to the panel.
Before the siege, Stone was a guest at the Willard Hotel, where several prominent Trump allies met in part to plot how to overturn President Biden's election, according to the panel.
That hotel meeting and guests are major areas of interest for the committee; Stone joins other subpoenaed guests who were also at the hotel, including former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, attorney John Eastman, ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn and Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner who was later sent to prison and then pardoned by Donald Trump.
The panel says its focus on Jones, the controversial Austin, Texas figure, is tied to his help organizing the rally at the Ellipse before the riot on Jan. 6.
Jones claimed to facilitate a donation that covered significant funding for the event, and spoke at a Jan. 6 event at Freedom Plaza.
Jones claimed he was told by the Trump White House that he was to lead a march from the Jan. 6th Ellipse rally to the Capitol.
Jones was also a key figure in the spread of false election fraud claims.
Monday evening, Jones issued a statement through his website claiming he was "trying to stop" the Capitol riot.
Court fight over release of Trump documents continues
Monday's demands comes on the same day the committee and the National Archives responded to Trump's arguments to an appellate court to stop a release of Jan. 6-related documents.
Trump appealed a district court ruling earlier this month that would have sent hundreds of pages of records to the committee.
The lawsuit came after Biden had waived executive privilege over Trump documents.
Last week, Trump's legal team filed a brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit arguing a dispute between a former and sitting president highlights the critical concerns over executive privilege.
Another ruling in favor of the committee, Trump argued, would have a direct impact on the advice Biden and future presidents can obtain without fear of public disclosure.
But the defendants in the case, the committee and the National Archives, slammed those claims.
For example, the legal team for the committee said Trump failed to demonstrate how withholding the documents would harm the office of the presidency.
"The only harm that Mr. Trump asserts is that the release of the requested records will compromise the interests of the Executive Branch," the committee said in its filing on Monday.
But "that assertion of harm is far outweighed by the surpassing public interest in a complete and timely investigation of the attack on the Capitol, as President Biden has determined."
With an expedited schedule in place, the appellate court is set to hear oral arguments in the case next week, on Tuesday, Nov. 30.
NPR's Ryan Lucas contributed to this story.
https://www.npr.org/2021/11/22/10570381 ... el-capitol
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
THE HILL
"Jan. 6 panel recommends contempt charges for Trump DOJ official"
BY REBECCA BEITSCH
12/01/21 07:22 PM EST
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol voted Wednesday night to refer Trump Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark for prosecution by the very agency where he once worked, the second such censure by the panel.
The unanimous vote comes as the committee is now planning to convene a second hearing for Clark on Saturday following a note at 8 p.m. Tuesday from his lawyer asking for a chance to plead his Fifth Amendment right to protection against self-incrimination before the committee.
The vote advances the contempt process.
Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called Clark's offer to return a “last-ditch attempt to delay the Select Committee’s proceedings,” noting that the committee would still forward the matter for consideration by the full House.
The Saturday meeting will allow Clark to plead the Fifth on a question-by-question basis.
Clark, a midlevel attorney at the Department of Justice (DOJ), became a central figure in former President Trump’s quest to have the Justice Department investigate his baseless claims of voter fraud, with Clark pushing superiors to send a letter encouraging states to delay certification of their election results.
Trump weighed installing him as acting attorney general as other DOJ officials resisted his efforts.
In a contempt of Congress report released Tuesday, the committee released a transcript of its brief Nov. 5 deposition with Clark, who, alongside his attorney, largely refused to answer the committee’s questions.
They have argued that the DOJ official should be exempt from responding due to executive privilege concerns — an assertion Trump himself has not made in regard to Clark.
But the committee said Clark’s behavior is willful defiance of its subpoena, which sought information on a wide range of topics, including other ways Trump may have planned to overturn the election.
“If you want to know what contempt of Congress really looks like, read the transcript of Mr. Clark’s deposition and his attorney’s correspondence with the Select Committee."
"Because what you find there is contempt for Congress and for the American people. ..."
"Faced with specific questions, he refused to offer any specific claim of privilege that could shield him from answering."
"Instead, he hid."
"Again and again and again."
"Behind his attorney’s 12-page letter and vague claims of privilege."
"Then he said, and I’m quoting, ‘I think that we’re done.’"
"And he walked out,” Thompson said Wednesday evening.
In forwarding its contempt of Congress report, the matter will now go to the full House, which will weigh whether to formally recommend DOJ file charges for criminal contempt of Congress.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) suggested such a vote would take place this week, but the Saturday deposition will likely delay the vote.
The move is hardly an empty gesture — the DOJ is currently pursuing a case against onetime White House strategist Stephen Bannon, who now faces two charges for failing to provide documents or sit to testify, together carrying as much as two years of jail time and up to $200,000 in fines.
Unlike Bannon, Clark did make a physical appearance before the committee, but Wednesday’s vote could serve as a warning shot to future witnesses who may attempt to thread the needle by showing up for the deposition only to fail to answer questions.
At the deposition, Clark’s lawyer Harry MacDougald handed investigators the 12-page letter presenting a complicated argument to suggest that Clark should be covered by earlier claims of executive privilege from Trump.
It also suggests his conversations with Trump should be covered by attorney-client privilege, portraying Clark as a regular legal adviser to Trump — something that would be unusual for someone who primarily worked on environmental issues during his time at the DOJ.
The committee has flatly rejected the idea that Trump has the power to limit compliance with congressional subpoenas, saying only the sitting president can wield executive power.
But even Trump’s attorney at the time notified Clark and other DOJ officials in August that they should feel free to speak with the committee.
The report also includes a July 26 letter from the Department of Justice encouraging Clark to cooperate with congressional investigators from other committees, highlighting “exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress in this case.”
Clark and his lawyer refused to give the committee an hour to review the letter, leaving their meeting with investigators at 11:30 that morning.
They also failed to return for a 4 p.m. meeting, which the committee asked for shortly after 12:30 p.m.
MacDougald responded a few hours later to say he was already flying back to his office in Atlanta.
Clark also refused to sit with investigators from the Senate Judiciary Committee report that offered the most detailed picture yet of how top DOJ officials, including former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy, Richard Donohue, threatened to resign as Clark relayed Trump’s plans to install him amid his push to unwind the election results.
“How did this plan with Mr. Clark originate?"
"Who else was involved?"
"How did it progress so far?"
"The American people are entitled to all of these answers."
"And we need the full story in order to legislate effectively,” Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said at the meeting.
The full subpoena to Clark, released for the first time in the contempt report, details the extent that the Jan. 6 committee planned to follow up on the Senate panel’s work.
It asks whether Trump weighed "filing documents in the United States Supreme Court regarding allegations of election fraud and/or the certification of the results of the election” and whether Clark knew about any plans to seize Dominion voting equipment.
It also asks for a wide range of Clark’s communications, including any discussions with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a central figure in several of Trump’s election efforts who has also been subpoenaed by the committee.
It also inquires about conversations with Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who introduced Clark to Trump, or any other member of Congress about delaying certification of election results.
Finally, it asks Clark about any communication with John Eastman, another figure subpoenaed by the committee who crafted the memos outlining Trump’s alleged ability to challenge the election through state electors and by having former Vice President Mike Pence buck his ceremonial duty to certify the election results.
The vote to censure Clark comes as Meadows has reached a tentative agreement to cooperate with the committee.
Thompson pointed to Meadows’s cooperation as a reason Clark should as well.
“There’s nothing extraordinary about Congress seeking the testimony of a former Executive Branch official."
"Even the former White House Chief of Staff is now cooperating with our investigation," he said.
Thompson expressed frustration with Clark for not asserting his Fifth Amendment rights at his original deposition.
“Of course, Mr. Clark had the opportunity to assert this privilege and any other in response to questions we intended to ask him at his November 5th deposition."
"He declined to do so."
"He walked out,” Thompson said.
“Even though Mr. Clark previously had the opportunity to make these claims on the record, the Select Committee will provide him another chance to do so."
"I have informed Mr. Clark’s attorney that I am willing to convene another deposition at which Mr. Clark can assert that privilege on a question-by-question basis, which is what the law requires of someone who asserts the privilege against self-incrimination."
"Mr. Clark has agreed to do so,” he added.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... j-official
"Jan. 6 panel recommends contempt charges for Trump DOJ official"
BY REBECCA BEITSCH
12/01/21 07:22 PM EST
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol voted Wednesday night to refer Trump Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark for prosecution by the very agency where he once worked, the second such censure by the panel.
The unanimous vote comes as the committee is now planning to convene a second hearing for Clark on Saturday following a note at 8 p.m. Tuesday from his lawyer asking for a chance to plead his Fifth Amendment right to protection against self-incrimination before the committee.
The vote advances the contempt process.
Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called Clark's offer to return a “last-ditch attempt to delay the Select Committee’s proceedings,” noting that the committee would still forward the matter for consideration by the full House.
The Saturday meeting will allow Clark to plead the Fifth on a question-by-question basis.
Clark, a midlevel attorney at the Department of Justice (DOJ), became a central figure in former President Trump’s quest to have the Justice Department investigate his baseless claims of voter fraud, with Clark pushing superiors to send a letter encouraging states to delay certification of their election results.
Trump weighed installing him as acting attorney general as other DOJ officials resisted his efforts.
In a contempt of Congress report released Tuesday, the committee released a transcript of its brief Nov. 5 deposition with Clark, who, alongside his attorney, largely refused to answer the committee’s questions.
They have argued that the DOJ official should be exempt from responding due to executive privilege concerns — an assertion Trump himself has not made in regard to Clark.
But the committee said Clark’s behavior is willful defiance of its subpoena, which sought information on a wide range of topics, including other ways Trump may have planned to overturn the election.
“If you want to know what contempt of Congress really looks like, read the transcript of Mr. Clark’s deposition and his attorney’s correspondence with the Select Committee."
"Because what you find there is contempt for Congress and for the American people. ..."
"Faced with specific questions, he refused to offer any specific claim of privilege that could shield him from answering."
"Instead, he hid."
"Again and again and again."
"Behind his attorney’s 12-page letter and vague claims of privilege."
"Then he said, and I’m quoting, ‘I think that we’re done.’"
"And he walked out,” Thompson said Wednesday evening.
In forwarding its contempt of Congress report, the matter will now go to the full House, which will weigh whether to formally recommend DOJ file charges for criminal contempt of Congress.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) suggested such a vote would take place this week, but the Saturday deposition will likely delay the vote.
The move is hardly an empty gesture — the DOJ is currently pursuing a case against onetime White House strategist Stephen Bannon, who now faces two charges for failing to provide documents or sit to testify, together carrying as much as two years of jail time and up to $200,000 in fines.
Unlike Bannon, Clark did make a physical appearance before the committee, but Wednesday’s vote could serve as a warning shot to future witnesses who may attempt to thread the needle by showing up for the deposition only to fail to answer questions.
At the deposition, Clark’s lawyer Harry MacDougald handed investigators the 12-page letter presenting a complicated argument to suggest that Clark should be covered by earlier claims of executive privilege from Trump.
It also suggests his conversations with Trump should be covered by attorney-client privilege, portraying Clark as a regular legal adviser to Trump — something that would be unusual for someone who primarily worked on environmental issues during his time at the DOJ.
The committee has flatly rejected the idea that Trump has the power to limit compliance with congressional subpoenas, saying only the sitting president can wield executive power.
But even Trump’s attorney at the time notified Clark and other DOJ officials in August that they should feel free to speak with the committee.
The report also includes a July 26 letter from the Department of Justice encouraging Clark to cooperate with congressional investigators from other committees, highlighting “exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress in this case.”
Clark and his lawyer refused to give the committee an hour to review the letter, leaving their meeting with investigators at 11:30 that morning.
They also failed to return for a 4 p.m. meeting, which the committee asked for shortly after 12:30 p.m.
MacDougald responded a few hours later to say he was already flying back to his office in Atlanta.
Clark also refused to sit with investigators from the Senate Judiciary Committee report that offered the most detailed picture yet of how top DOJ officials, including former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy, Richard Donohue, threatened to resign as Clark relayed Trump’s plans to install him amid his push to unwind the election results.
“How did this plan with Mr. Clark originate?"
"Who else was involved?"
"How did it progress so far?"
"The American people are entitled to all of these answers."
"And we need the full story in order to legislate effectively,” Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said at the meeting.
The full subpoena to Clark, released for the first time in the contempt report, details the extent that the Jan. 6 committee planned to follow up on the Senate panel’s work.
It asks whether Trump weighed "filing documents in the United States Supreme Court regarding allegations of election fraud and/or the certification of the results of the election” and whether Clark knew about any plans to seize Dominion voting equipment.
It also asks for a wide range of Clark’s communications, including any discussions with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a central figure in several of Trump’s election efforts who has also been subpoenaed by the committee.
It also inquires about conversations with Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who introduced Clark to Trump, or any other member of Congress about delaying certification of election results.
Finally, it asks Clark about any communication with John Eastman, another figure subpoenaed by the committee who crafted the memos outlining Trump’s alleged ability to challenge the election through state electors and by having former Vice President Mike Pence buck his ceremonial duty to certify the election results.
The vote to censure Clark comes as Meadows has reached a tentative agreement to cooperate with the committee.
Thompson pointed to Meadows’s cooperation as a reason Clark should as well.
“There’s nothing extraordinary about Congress seeking the testimony of a former Executive Branch official."
"Even the former White House Chief of Staff is now cooperating with our investigation," he said.
Thompson expressed frustration with Clark for not asserting his Fifth Amendment rights at his original deposition.
“Of course, Mr. Clark had the opportunity to assert this privilege and any other in response to questions we intended to ask him at his November 5th deposition."
"He declined to do so."
"He walked out,” Thompson said.
“Even though Mr. Clark previously had the opportunity to make these claims on the record, the Select Committee will provide him another chance to do so."
"I have informed Mr. Clark’s attorney that I am willing to convene another deposition at which Mr. Clark can assert that privilege on a question-by-question basis, which is what the law requires of someone who asserts the privilege against self-incrimination."
"Mr. Clark has agreed to do so,” he added.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... j-official
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
CNBC
"Mark Meadows sues Pelosi, Jan. 6 committee members as they push to hold him in contempt"
Kevin Breuninger @KEVINWILLIAMB
PUBLISHED WED, DEC 8 2021
KEY POINTS
* Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and all nine members of the House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol riot, a court filing shows.
* The civil lawsuit came as that select panel moves to hold Meadows in contempt for refusing to cooperate with the probe of the Jan. 6 invasion.
*On Jan. 6, then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and temporarily stopped Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Wednesday sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and all nine members of the House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol riot, a court filing shows.
The civil lawsuit came as that select panel moves to hold Meadows in contempt for refusing to cooperate with the probe of the Jan. 6 invasion, when then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, asks the court to invalidate two subpoenas that the panel had issued to Meadows and Verizon, the carrier for his prior personal cell phone, calling them “overly broad and unduly burdensome.”
The 43-page complaint notes that Trump in early October instructed Meadows not to comply with the subpoena for his documents and testimony, claiming those materials are covered by executive privilege.
President Joe Biden, however, waived Trump’s privilege claims, prompting Trump to file his own lawsuit against the Jan. 6 probe.
Meadows’ complaint argues that he “has been put in the untenable position of choosing between conflicting privilege claims that are of constitutional origin and dimension.”
It asks the courts to settle the dispute.
A spokesman for the select committee declined to comment on the lawsuit.
A lawyer and a spokesman for Meadows did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Meadows is the third Trump ally to face the threat of contempt proceedings from the House for refusing to comply with the Capitol riot probe.
Last week, the select committee voted to advance contempt proceedings for ex-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
The House had already voted to hold former White House senior advisor Steve Bannon in contempt for his own noncompliance with a subpoena.
A federal grand jury in November charged Bannon with two counts of contempt of Congress.
Bannon has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000 for each count.
A federal judge set a tentative July 18 start date for Bannon’s trial.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/08/mark-me ... empt-.html
"Mark Meadows sues Pelosi, Jan. 6 committee members as they push to hold him in contempt"
Kevin Breuninger @KEVINWILLIAMB
PUBLISHED WED, DEC 8 2021
KEY POINTS
* Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and all nine members of the House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol riot, a court filing shows.
* The civil lawsuit came as that select panel moves to hold Meadows in contempt for refusing to cooperate with the probe of the Jan. 6 invasion.
*On Jan. 6, then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and temporarily stopped Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Wednesday sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and all nine members of the House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol riot, a court filing shows.
The civil lawsuit came as that select panel moves to hold Meadows in contempt for refusing to cooperate with the probe of the Jan. 6 invasion, when then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, asks the court to invalidate two subpoenas that the panel had issued to Meadows and Verizon, the carrier for his prior personal cell phone, calling them “overly broad and unduly burdensome.”
The 43-page complaint notes that Trump in early October instructed Meadows not to comply with the subpoena for his documents and testimony, claiming those materials are covered by executive privilege.
President Joe Biden, however, waived Trump’s privilege claims, prompting Trump to file his own lawsuit against the Jan. 6 probe.
Meadows’ complaint argues that he “has been put in the untenable position of choosing between conflicting privilege claims that are of constitutional origin and dimension.”
It asks the courts to settle the dispute.
A spokesman for the select committee declined to comment on the lawsuit.
A lawyer and a spokesman for Meadows did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Meadows is the third Trump ally to face the threat of contempt proceedings from the House for refusing to comply with the Capitol riot probe.
Last week, the select committee voted to advance contempt proceedings for ex-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
The House had already voted to hold former White House senior advisor Steve Bannon in contempt for his own noncompliance with a subpoena.
A federal grand jury in November charged Bannon with two counts of contempt of Congress.
Bannon has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000 for each count.
A federal judge set a tentative July 18 start date for Bannon’s trial.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/08/mark-me ... empt-.html
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
REUTERS
"U.S. House Capitol Jan. 6 probe subpoenas more Trump aides"
By Patricia Zengerle
December 10, 2021
WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot said on Friday it had issued six more subpoenas demanding information from witnesses, including some top aides from former President Donald Trump's White House.
The House of Representatives Select Committee issued subpoenas to Brian Jack, who was Trump's White House political director; Max Miller, a former special assistant to Trump now running for a House seat in Ohio with Trump's endorsement; and Bobby Peede, former director of the White House advance staff, which prepared events for Trump's arrival.
The committee said Peede and Miller met with Trump in a private dining room at the White House to discuss Trump's rally on Jan. 6 - the day his supporters marched on the Capitol - and that Jack reportedly reached out to several members of Congress on Trump's behalf to invite them to speak at the rally.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy later hired Jack to lead his congressional political operation.
"Some of the witnesses we subpoenaed today apparently worked to stage the rallies on Jan. 5th and 6th, and some appeared to have had direct communication with the former President regarding the rally at the Ellipse directly preceding the attack on the U.S. Capitol," Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's chairman, said in a statement.
The committee also issued subpoenas to Bryan Lewis, a former executive at Fox News who the committee said obtained a permit for a rally outside the Capitol; Ed Martin, whom the committee described as an organizer of Trump's "Stop the Steal" movement falsely claiming Trump did not lose the election, and Kim Fletcher, who runs a pro-Trump organization called Moms for America that organized a rally near the Capitol on Jan. 5.
The individuals sent the subpoenas could not be reached for comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS
The committee has issued more than 50 subpoenas and heard from more than 275 witnesses in its investigation of the attack by supporters of the Republican ex-president as Congress met to formally certify his November 2020 presidential election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.
Four people died the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the next day of injuries sustained while defending Congress.
Hundreds of police were injured during the multi-hour onslaught, and four officers have since taken their own lives.
The panel has begun contempt of Congress proceedings against three Trump supporters for failure to comply with its subpoenas - former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump Justice Department official.
Trump has urged associates not to cooperate, calling the Democratic-led investigation politically motivated and arguing that his communications are protected by executive privilege.
Multiple courts have rejected that argument, with the federal appeals court in Washington on Thursday saying Trump had provided "no basis" for his claim.
Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone, Chris Reese and Daniel Wallis
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-hou ... 021-12-10/
"U.S. House Capitol Jan. 6 probe subpoenas more Trump aides"
By Patricia Zengerle
December 10, 2021
WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot said on Friday it had issued six more subpoenas demanding information from witnesses, including some top aides from former President Donald Trump's White House.
The House of Representatives Select Committee issued subpoenas to Brian Jack, who was Trump's White House political director; Max Miller, a former special assistant to Trump now running for a House seat in Ohio with Trump's endorsement; and Bobby Peede, former director of the White House advance staff, which prepared events for Trump's arrival.
The committee said Peede and Miller met with Trump in a private dining room at the White House to discuss Trump's rally on Jan. 6 - the day his supporters marched on the Capitol - and that Jack reportedly reached out to several members of Congress on Trump's behalf to invite them to speak at the rally.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy later hired Jack to lead his congressional political operation.
"Some of the witnesses we subpoenaed today apparently worked to stage the rallies on Jan. 5th and 6th, and some appeared to have had direct communication with the former President regarding the rally at the Ellipse directly preceding the attack on the U.S. Capitol," Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's chairman, said in a statement.
The committee also issued subpoenas to Bryan Lewis, a former executive at Fox News who the committee said obtained a permit for a rally outside the Capitol; Ed Martin, whom the committee described as an organizer of Trump's "Stop the Steal" movement falsely claiming Trump did not lose the election, and Kim Fletcher, who runs a pro-Trump organization called Moms for America that organized a rally near the Capitol on Jan. 5.
The individuals sent the subpoenas could not be reached for comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS
The committee has issued more than 50 subpoenas and heard from more than 275 witnesses in its investigation of the attack by supporters of the Republican ex-president as Congress met to formally certify his November 2020 presidential election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.
Four people died the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the next day of injuries sustained while defending Congress.
Hundreds of police were injured during the multi-hour onslaught, and four officers have since taken their own lives.
The panel has begun contempt of Congress proceedings against three Trump supporters for failure to comply with its subpoenas - former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump Justice Department official.
Trump has urged associates not to cooperate, calling the Democratic-led investigation politically motivated and arguing that his communications are protected by executive privilege.
Multiple courts have rejected that argument, with the federal appeals court in Washington on Thursday saying Trump had provided "no basis" for his claim.
Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone, Chris Reese and Daniel Wallis
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-hou ... 021-12-10/
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
REUTERS
"U.S. House passes oversight bill reining in presidency, unlikely to pass Senate"
By Moira Warburton
December 9, 2021
WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a sweeping government oversight bill aimed at reining in the powers of the presidency, but the measure faces little chance of passing the narrowly-divided Senate.
The "Protecting Our Democracy Act" would limit the president's pardon powers and strengthen oversight of other government functions, which supporters said were intended to address weaknesses that Republican former President Donald Trump exploited during his four years in office.
Republicans dismissed the bill, which passed in a nearly party-line 220-208 vote, as an attack on Trump.
The bill would "address many of the vulnerabilities that the last four years exposed," Representative Adam Schiff, a co-sponsor of the bill, said at a news conference after its passage.
He said that Trump's actions, including pardons of supporters, illustrated that "the need for stronger guardrails is greater than ever."
Republican Rick Crawford accused Democrats of living in the past, saying, "The clear intent of this bill is to weaponize federal bureaucracy against Republican candidates."
The bill will now head to the Senate, where it is not expected to surpass the chamber's 60-vote threshold to move forward.
Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-hou ... 021-12-09/
"U.S. House passes oversight bill reining in presidency, unlikely to pass Senate"
By Moira Warburton
December 9, 2021
WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a sweeping government oversight bill aimed at reining in the powers of the presidency, but the measure faces little chance of passing the narrowly-divided Senate.
The "Protecting Our Democracy Act" would limit the president's pardon powers and strengthen oversight of other government functions, which supporters said were intended to address weaknesses that Republican former President Donald Trump exploited during his four years in office.
Republicans dismissed the bill, which passed in a nearly party-line 220-208 vote, as an attack on Trump.
The bill would "address many of the vulnerabilities that the last four years exposed," Representative Adam Schiff, a co-sponsor of the bill, said at a news conference after its passage.
He said that Trump's actions, including pardons of supporters, illustrated that "the need for stronger guardrails is greater than ever."
Republican Rick Crawford accused Democrats of living in the past, saying, "The clear intent of this bill is to weaponize federal bureaucracy against Republican candidates."
The bill will now head to the Senate, where it is not expected to surpass the chamber's 60-vote threshold to move forward.
Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-hou ... 021-12-09/
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
BUSINESS INSIDER
"January 6 committee releases a resolution recommending Mark Meadows be held in contempt of Congress after he stopped cooperating with their investigation"
salarshani@businessinsider.com (Sarah Al-Arshani)
12 DECEMBER 2021
The January 6 Select Committee recommended holding Mark Meadows in contempt.
Meadows, Trump's former Chief of Staff, said he would no longer cooperate with the investigation.
He also sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the committee investigating the attack.
The January 6 select committee issued a resolution recommending that Mark Meadows be held in contempt of Congress after he stopped cooperating with their investigation.
Meadows, former President Donald Trump's chief of staff, initially refused to comply with a subpoena from the committee investigating the Capitol riot.
The panel had previously considered holding him in criminal contempt.
However, he began supplying emails and other information this month.
One of those emails was described in the document released on Sunday.
In an email sent on January 5, Meadows said the National Guard was on standby to "protect pro Trump people," according to the committee's contempt resolution.
Earlier this week, Meadows filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the committee investigating the attack.
The lawsuit came a day after his lawyer told the committee that Meadows would no longer cooperate with their investigation and would not provide a deposition.
In his lawsuit, Meadows said the subpoenas were "overly broad and unduly burdensome."
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on holding Meadows in contempt this week.
A lawyer for Meadows did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
"January 6 committee releases a resolution recommending Mark Meadows be held in contempt of Congress after he stopped cooperating with their investigation"
salarshani@businessinsider.com (Sarah Al-Arshani)
12 DECEMBER 2021
The January 6 Select Committee recommended holding Mark Meadows in contempt.
Meadows, Trump's former Chief of Staff, said he would no longer cooperate with the investigation.
He also sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the committee investigating the attack.
The January 6 select committee issued a resolution recommending that Mark Meadows be held in contempt of Congress after he stopped cooperating with their investigation.
Meadows, former President Donald Trump's chief of staff, initially refused to comply with a subpoena from the committee investigating the Capitol riot.
The panel had previously considered holding him in criminal contempt.
However, he began supplying emails and other information this month.
One of those emails was described in the document released on Sunday.
In an email sent on January 5, Meadows said the National Guard was on standby to "protect pro Trump people," according to the committee's contempt resolution.
Earlier this week, Meadows filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the committee investigating the attack.
The lawsuit came a day after his lawyer told the committee that Meadows would no longer cooperate with their investigation and would not provide a deposition.
In his lawsuit, Meadows said the subpoenas were "overly broad and unduly burdensome."
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on holding Meadows in contempt this week.
A lawyer for Meadows did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
THE DAILY BEAST
"Mark Meadows’ Personal Cell Is Becoming a Personal Hell"
Jose Pagliery, Roger Sollenberger
14 DECEMBER 2021
It turns out Mark Meadows may have good reason to not want to turn over all of the communications on two personal phones and two Gmail accounts.
After the Jan. 6 Committee disclosed just a few choice text messages between Meadows and Fox News hosts, an anonymous lawmaker, and Donald Trump Jr. about the insurrection, the battle for all of Meadows’ communications has taken on new meaning.
And Meadows’ assertions of executive privilege are undermined by a law he should know well.
Former President Trump’s chief of staff is refusing to turn over some personal emails, text messages, and encrypted chats by claiming that his old boss still retains some executive privilege over them.
But if that’s the case, the Jan. 6 Committee is now arguing, then Meadows should have turned those communications over to the National Archives on his way out the White House door.
“It appears that Mr. Meadows may not have complied with legal requirements to retain or archive documents under the Presidential Records Act,” reads a committee report released Sunday night.
The report noted a growing concern that “materials may now be lost to the historical record.”
What little we know of those private communications is plenty damning enough.
On Monday night, as the committee voted to hold Meadows in criminal contempt, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) read aloud text messages to Meadows from Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham, Brian Kilmeade, Sean Hannity, and even Trump’s own son Don Jr., in which they all begged to have the president intervene.
He did not.
Congressional investigators are particularly interested in how Meadows used his personal devices and accounts to coordinate several challenges to the 2020 election results — and the disastrous aftermath of the failed coup.
Trump’s right-hand man in the White House played a pivotal role, most prominently in organizing the infamous Jan. 2 phone call during which Trump tried to pressure Georgia’s top elections official to “find 11,780 votes” and erase Joe Biden’s victory.
“Mark Meadows' texts and emails reveal deep involvement in setting the stage for the January 6 attack,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) tweeted Monday afternoon.
“Had Mr. Meadows been deposed under oath, the committee would have asked him about his handling official government records, a topic that is not subject to any conceivable legal privilege,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) said during the contempt vote meeting Monday evening.
Meadows did not respond to a request for comment.
In a Fox News interview Monday night, however, he defended his recalcitrant approach by claiming that Trump’s executive privilege claims are “not mine to waive.”
The use of a personal cellphone and two Gmail accounts means that Meadows, who may soon be held in contempt of Congress and face criminal charges, could also be fighting off accusations that he violated federal records laws.
Committee members want to ask Meadows about his texts with an organizer of the pro-Trump rally at the Ellipse, a park just south of the White House that served as a staging area before the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.
Documents released by the special commission allege that Meadows discussed speakers and the locations of certain individuals.
Members also want to question Meadows about text messages he sent to others on the line during the damning Trump Georgia phone call, as well as messages he sent members of Congress “regarding strategy for dealing with criticism of the call,” according to the committee.
Among the communications also drawing their scrutiny: his chats about Trump’s potential 2024 run and his conversations he had about a potential job at a news network.
Meadows has already turned over nearly 9,000 pages of documents requested by the committee.
But the committee is still coming after him, because of his reluctance to turn over some evidence about inner workings at the Trump White House — and his refusal to sit down for sworn testimony behind closed doors.
And if what Meadows has already turned over to investigators is any indication, the former Trump chief of staff used his personal phone for quite a bit of government work.
“Mr. Meadows’ production of documents shows that he used the Gmail accounts and his personal cellular phone for official business related to his service as White House chief of staff,” reads the latest committee report.
“Given that fact, we would ask Mr. Meadows about his efforts to preserve those documents and provide them to the National Archives.”
There’s a bit of irony here.
Meadows made it to the White House after years of being one of Trump’s most loyal allies in Congress, where he previously served as the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and one particular subcommittee: Oversight and Government Reform’s panel on government operations.
That subcommittee actually oversees the management of federal records, which means Meadows is well-versed in the rules regarding government communications.
In fact, Meadows used his subcommittee to look into the IT specialist who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server, which fueled a seemingly endless debate about the improper use of personal devices.
Meadows, who was highly critical of Clinton’s private email server for years, later defended Trump administration officials who used private devices for official business, with one important caveat: that they turn over the device.
That was the case with former Trump diplomats Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland, who were wrapped up in the first Trump impeachment case over Trump’s phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
And Meadows has previously addressed charges of hypocrisy, claiming that the difference was that Clinton was dealing with classified materials.
But Meadows seems to want carte blanche to personally determine what’s private and public, while simultaneously arguing that the information he claims is shielded by executive privilege is also shielded from being turned over to the National Archives.
That argument may prove to be a tenuous one.
Meadows appears to have also used two cellphones with North Carolina area codes, according to the Jan. 6 Committee.
At least one of them — a phone line belonging to “Meadows for Congress” — was the target of a committee subpoena that was sent in November.
Investigators want to see that phone’s metadata and subscriber information, along with a log of calls, text messages, voicemails and other connections during his last four months in the White House.
His political group stopped paying for its Verizon account in November 2020, just as Meadows began helping Trump with his despotic attempt to stay in power.
This raises the question of whether Meadows was using a personal phone for White House business — while it was possibly being paid for by donor funds from his congressional campaign.
Meadows, who was targeted last fall in a complaint to the Justice Department for allegedly tapping tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal use, charged monthly phone bills to his campaign.
The practice is common among elected officials who keep a separate cell specifically for campaign activity, such as fundraising, travel, and contacts with a tight political circle.
Although Meadows converted the campaign to a leadership political action committee in July, shortly after leaving Congress for the White House gig, federal filings appear to show that he continued using it for personal expenses, including those cellphone payments.
Federal election laws restrict how officials are allowed to use phones underwritten by donor cash.
But the late-November cutoff suggests a meaningful change in status at a significant point in time — just as Trump was ramping up the post-election chicanery.
While the House select committee’s subpoena reaches back before the election, the most significant discussions and text messages would have fallen well after the reported payments ceased.
It’s unclear whether Meadows stopped using his official line, and, if he did, when and why.
Don W. Wilson, who served as the nation’s archivist from 1987 until 1993, told The Daily Beast that there’s little wiggle room here.
“If it’s official business, then it’s a record."
"And by the nature of his role and his office, there’s not much unofficial,” he said.
“He shouldn’t have been using his personal cellphone… and if he was, there should have been some sort of transfer to the National Archives.”
The federal government’s gargantuan library has found itself at the center of a fight between the bipartisan Jan. 6 Committee and Trump, who claims that vast troves of his presidential records should be kept secret, somewhat bafflingly, for the sake of the Republic.
His legal challenge has already lost twice — once in district court and again on appeal —
but until the case is officially resolved, the National Archives isn’t turning over evidence to investigators.
Wilson, who has been watching this unfold from his home in South Carolina, hopes the presidential records will be turned over.
“Theres’ a real need for someone, and it’s probably Congress, to get to the truth,” he said.
“And the only way they can get to that is through the records and witnesses."
"But a lot of it is going to have to come through the texts.”
Meadows is being especially guarded about his personal cellphone’s text messages, and that issue appears to be what derailed negotiations between him and the Jan. 6 Committee.
While Meadows was quietly fighting off a subpoena to testify, he was turning over records.
That is, until he discovered that the committee sent Verizon a subpoena for his old phone’s records.
When investigators crossed that line, Meadows cried foul and sued the committee.
Wilson said Trump’s insistence to keep call logs secret — and Meadows’ reluctance to turn over text messages — foreshadows just how damning they may be.
“What were the texts?"
"What were the phone calls?"
"If they can’t even get the logs for the official phone calls, that’s pretty revealing,” he said.
“It’s going to come out eventually."
"But what it’s doing to the country right now is a travesty.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
"Mark Meadows’ Personal Cell Is Becoming a Personal Hell"
Jose Pagliery, Roger Sollenberger
14 DECEMBER 2021
It turns out Mark Meadows may have good reason to not want to turn over all of the communications on two personal phones and two Gmail accounts.
After the Jan. 6 Committee disclosed just a few choice text messages between Meadows and Fox News hosts, an anonymous lawmaker, and Donald Trump Jr. about the insurrection, the battle for all of Meadows’ communications has taken on new meaning.
And Meadows’ assertions of executive privilege are undermined by a law he should know well.
Former President Trump’s chief of staff is refusing to turn over some personal emails, text messages, and encrypted chats by claiming that his old boss still retains some executive privilege over them.
But if that’s the case, the Jan. 6 Committee is now arguing, then Meadows should have turned those communications over to the National Archives on his way out the White House door.
“It appears that Mr. Meadows may not have complied with legal requirements to retain or archive documents under the Presidential Records Act,” reads a committee report released Sunday night.
The report noted a growing concern that “materials may now be lost to the historical record.”
What little we know of those private communications is plenty damning enough.
On Monday night, as the committee voted to hold Meadows in criminal contempt, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) read aloud text messages to Meadows from Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham, Brian Kilmeade, Sean Hannity, and even Trump’s own son Don Jr., in which they all begged to have the president intervene.
He did not.
Congressional investigators are particularly interested in how Meadows used his personal devices and accounts to coordinate several challenges to the 2020 election results — and the disastrous aftermath of the failed coup.
Trump’s right-hand man in the White House played a pivotal role, most prominently in organizing the infamous Jan. 2 phone call during which Trump tried to pressure Georgia’s top elections official to “find 11,780 votes” and erase Joe Biden’s victory.
“Mark Meadows' texts and emails reveal deep involvement in setting the stage for the January 6 attack,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) tweeted Monday afternoon.
“Had Mr. Meadows been deposed under oath, the committee would have asked him about his handling official government records, a topic that is not subject to any conceivable legal privilege,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) said during the contempt vote meeting Monday evening.
Meadows did not respond to a request for comment.
In a Fox News interview Monday night, however, he defended his recalcitrant approach by claiming that Trump’s executive privilege claims are “not mine to waive.”
The use of a personal cellphone and two Gmail accounts means that Meadows, who may soon be held in contempt of Congress and face criminal charges, could also be fighting off accusations that he violated federal records laws.
Committee members want to ask Meadows about his texts with an organizer of the pro-Trump rally at the Ellipse, a park just south of the White House that served as a staging area before the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.
Documents released by the special commission allege that Meadows discussed speakers and the locations of certain individuals.
Members also want to question Meadows about text messages he sent to others on the line during the damning Trump Georgia phone call, as well as messages he sent members of Congress “regarding strategy for dealing with criticism of the call,” according to the committee.
Among the communications also drawing their scrutiny: his chats about Trump’s potential 2024 run and his conversations he had about a potential job at a news network.
Meadows has already turned over nearly 9,000 pages of documents requested by the committee.
But the committee is still coming after him, because of his reluctance to turn over some evidence about inner workings at the Trump White House — and his refusal to sit down for sworn testimony behind closed doors.
And if what Meadows has already turned over to investigators is any indication, the former Trump chief of staff used his personal phone for quite a bit of government work.
“Mr. Meadows’ production of documents shows that he used the Gmail accounts and his personal cellular phone for official business related to his service as White House chief of staff,” reads the latest committee report.
“Given that fact, we would ask Mr. Meadows about his efforts to preserve those documents and provide them to the National Archives.”
There’s a bit of irony here.
Meadows made it to the White House after years of being one of Trump’s most loyal allies in Congress, where he previously served as the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and one particular subcommittee: Oversight and Government Reform’s panel on government operations.
That subcommittee actually oversees the management of federal records, which means Meadows is well-versed in the rules regarding government communications.
In fact, Meadows used his subcommittee to look into the IT specialist who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server, which fueled a seemingly endless debate about the improper use of personal devices.
Meadows, who was highly critical of Clinton’s private email server for years, later defended Trump administration officials who used private devices for official business, with one important caveat: that they turn over the device.
That was the case with former Trump diplomats Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland, who were wrapped up in the first Trump impeachment case over Trump’s phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
And Meadows has previously addressed charges of hypocrisy, claiming that the difference was that Clinton was dealing with classified materials.
But Meadows seems to want carte blanche to personally determine what’s private and public, while simultaneously arguing that the information he claims is shielded by executive privilege is also shielded from being turned over to the National Archives.
That argument may prove to be a tenuous one.
Meadows appears to have also used two cellphones with North Carolina area codes, according to the Jan. 6 Committee.
At least one of them — a phone line belonging to “Meadows for Congress” — was the target of a committee subpoena that was sent in November.
Investigators want to see that phone’s metadata and subscriber information, along with a log of calls, text messages, voicemails and other connections during his last four months in the White House.
His political group stopped paying for its Verizon account in November 2020, just as Meadows began helping Trump with his despotic attempt to stay in power.
This raises the question of whether Meadows was using a personal phone for White House business — while it was possibly being paid for by donor funds from his congressional campaign.
Meadows, who was targeted last fall in a complaint to the Justice Department for allegedly tapping tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal use, charged monthly phone bills to his campaign.
The practice is common among elected officials who keep a separate cell specifically for campaign activity, such as fundraising, travel, and contacts with a tight political circle.
Although Meadows converted the campaign to a leadership political action committee in July, shortly after leaving Congress for the White House gig, federal filings appear to show that he continued using it for personal expenses, including those cellphone payments.
Federal election laws restrict how officials are allowed to use phones underwritten by donor cash.
But the late-November cutoff suggests a meaningful change in status at a significant point in time — just as Trump was ramping up the post-election chicanery.
While the House select committee’s subpoena reaches back before the election, the most significant discussions and text messages would have fallen well after the reported payments ceased.
It’s unclear whether Meadows stopped using his official line, and, if he did, when and why.
Don W. Wilson, who served as the nation’s archivist from 1987 until 1993, told The Daily Beast that there’s little wiggle room here.
“If it’s official business, then it’s a record."
"And by the nature of his role and his office, there’s not much unofficial,” he said.
“He shouldn’t have been using his personal cellphone… and if he was, there should have been some sort of transfer to the National Archives.”
The federal government’s gargantuan library has found itself at the center of a fight between the bipartisan Jan. 6 Committee and Trump, who claims that vast troves of his presidential records should be kept secret, somewhat bafflingly, for the sake of the Republic.
His legal challenge has already lost twice — once in district court and again on appeal —
but until the case is officially resolved, the National Archives isn’t turning over evidence to investigators.
Wilson, who has been watching this unfold from his home in South Carolina, hopes the presidential records will be turned over.
“Theres’ a real need for someone, and it’s probably Congress, to get to the truth,” he said.
“And the only way they can get to that is through the records and witnesses."
"But a lot of it is going to have to come through the texts.”
Meadows is being especially guarded about his personal cellphone’s text messages, and that issue appears to be what derailed negotiations between him and the Jan. 6 Committee.
While Meadows was quietly fighting off a subpoena to testify, he was turning over records.
That is, until he discovered that the committee sent Verizon a subpoena for his old phone’s records.
When investigators crossed that line, Meadows cried foul and sued the committee.
Wilson said Trump’s insistence to keep call logs secret — and Meadows’ reluctance to turn over text messages — foreshadows just how damning they may be.
“What were the texts?"
"What were the phone calls?"
"If they can’t even get the logs for the official phone calls, that’s pretty revealing,” he said.
“It’s going to come out eventually."
"But what it’s doing to the country right now is a travesty.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
THE GUARDIAN
"Capitol attack panel will determine if Trump committed crime – Republican"
Richard Luscombe
19 DECEMBER 2021
Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the deadly 6 January Capitol attack incited by Donald Trump, said on Sunday he was not “yet” ready to declare the former president guilty of a crime – but that the panel was investigating the likelihood that he is.
“Nobody is above the law,” the Illinois congressman told CNN’s State of the Union.
“And if the president knowingly allowed what happened on 6 January to happen, and, in fact, was giddy about it, and that violates a criminal statute, he needs to be held accountable for that.”
The committee has been picking up pace in recent weeks with dozens of subpoenas issued, some to close Trump aides.
The waters lapped at the doors of Trump’s Oval Office this week when his fourth and final chief of staff, Mark Meadows, became a focus of the investigation over tweets he received on and around the day of the insurrection.
The committee voted unanimously to refer Meadows for criminal prosecution for contempt of Congress, after he withdrew his cooperation.
Kinzinger, who alongside fellow Republican Liz Cheney has drawn the ire of Trump allies for serving on the committee, said he had no qualms about scrutinising how Trump incited supporters to try to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden, which he says was the result of massive electoral fraud, which it was not.
“He’s not a king,” Kinzinger said, “Former presidents, they aren’t former kings.”
Kinzinger added that he feared the events of 6 January were “trial run” for Trump and his allies to attempt another coup.
“We will get every bit of detail that we can possibly get on that, so that’s important for the president’s role,” he said.
“I want to hold the people guilty accountable but I want to make sure this never happens again."
“Otherwise, 6 January will have been, yes, a failed trial run, but, sometimes, a failed trial run is the best practice to get one that succeeds, a coup that would succeed in toppling our government.”
Kinzinger’s comments are the strongest to date about the depth of the inquiry into Trump’s role.
At a “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on 6 January, the then-president urged supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell [or] you’re not going to have a country any more”.
He was impeached a second time for inciting the insurrection that followed, but though Kinzinger, and nine other House Republicans and seven GOP senators voted with Democrats, Trump was acquitted in his Senate trial and remains free to run for office again.
Pressed on whether he thought Trump was guilty of a crime, Kinzinger said: “I don’t want to go there yet, to say, ‘Do I believe he has’."
"But I sure tell you I have a lot of questions about what the president was up to.”
Earlier this month at a sentencing hearing for one of the rioters, a district court judge, Amy Berman Jackson, said she believed Trump stoked the riot and should be held accountable.
Jackson was one of a growing number of federal judges to speak out.
Trump is also in legal jeopardy from investigations of his business affairs, with authorities in New York looking at tax issues in particular.
Trump spoke to Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures but was not asked about the 6 January inquiry, instead riffing on subjects including the Taliban’s hatred of dogs and how Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, struggles to pitch a baseball.
Trump also weighed in on a conspiracy theory popular on Fox News which says Biden is not running the country, based on an apparent gaffe in which he called his vice-president, Kamala Harris, “president” in a university commencement speech this week.
On CNN, Kinzinger acknowledged the 6 January committee was working to complete its work before next year’s midterm elections, in which Republicans are likely to take back control and thereby kill the investigation.
The Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, a Trump loyalist whose text messages were included in those released this week, was one of the Republicans rejected by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, for a place on the 6 January panel.
Regardless, Jordan has been tipped as a possible judiciary committee chair – who would therefore act to close the investigation of the Capitol attack.
“He could not credibly head the [judiciary] committee,” Kinzinger said.
“But he certainly could head the committee.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
"Capitol attack panel will determine if Trump committed crime – Republican"
Richard Luscombe
19 DECEMBER 2021
Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the deadly 6 January Capitol attack incited by Donald Trump, said on Sunday he was not “yet” ready to declare the former president guilty of a crime – but that the panel was investigating the likelihood that he is.
“Nobody is above the law,” the Illinois congressman told CNN’s State of the Union.
“And if the president knowingly allowed what happened on 6 January to happen, and, in fact, was giddy about it, and that violates a criminal statute, he needs to be held accountable for that.”
The committee has been picking up pace in recent weeks with dozens of subpoenas issued, some to close Trump aides.
The waters lapped at the doors of Trump’s Oval Office this week when his fourth and final chief of staff, Mark Meadows, became a focus of the investigation over tweets he received on and around the day of the insurrection.
The committee voted unanimously to refer Meadows for criminal prosecution for contempt of Congress, after he withdrew his cooperation.
Kinzinger, who alongside fellow Republican Liz Cheney has drawn the ire of Trump allies for serving on the committee, said he had no qualms about scrutinising how Trump incited supporters to try to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden, which he says was the result of massive electoral fraud, which it was not.
“He’s not a king,” Kinzinger said, “Former presidents, they aren’t former kings.”
Kinzinger added that he feared the events of 6 January were “trial run” for Trump and his allies to attempt another coup.
“We will get every bit of detail that we can possibly get on that, so that’s important for the president’s role,” he said.
“I want to hold the people guilty accountable but I want to make sure this never happens again."
“Otherwise, 6 January will have been, yes, a failed trial run, but, sometimes, a failed trial run is the best practice to get one that succeeds, a coup that would succeed in toppling our government.”
Kinzinger’s comments are the strongest to date about the depth of the inquiry into Trump’s role.
At a “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on 6 January, the then-president urged supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell [or] you’re not going to have a country any more”.
He was impeached a second time for inciting the insurrection that followed, but though Kinzinger, and nine other House Republicans and seven GOP senators voted with Democrats, Trump was acquitted in his Senate trial and remains free to run for office again.
Pressed on whether he thought Trump was guilty of a crime, Kinzinger said: “I don’t want to go there yet, to say, ‘Do I believe he has’."
"But I sure tell you I have a lot of questions about what the president was up to.”
Earlier this month at a sentencing hearing for one of the rioters, a district court judge, Amy Berman Jackson, said she believed Trump stoked the riot and should be held accountable.
Jackson was one of a growing number of federal judges to speak out.
Trump is also in legal jeopardy from investigations of his business affairs, with authorities in New York looking at tax issues in particular.
Trump spoke to Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures but was not asked about the 6 January inquiry, instead riffing on subjects including the Taliban’s hatred of dogs and how Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, struggles to pitch a baseball.
Trump also weighed in on a conspiracy theory popular on Fox News which says Biden is not running the country, based on an apparent gaffe in which he called his vice-president, Kamala Harris, “president” in a university commencement speech this week.
On CNN, Kinzinger acknowledged the 6 January committee was working to complete its work before next year’s midterm elections, in which Republicans are likely to take back control and thereby kill the investigation.
The Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, a Trump loyalist whose text messages were included in those released this week, was one of the Republicans rejected by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, for a place on the 6 January panel.
Regardless, Jordan has been tipped as a possible judiciary committee chair – who would therefore act to close the investigation of the Capitol attack.
“He could not credibly head the [judiciary] committee,” Kinzinger said.
“But he certainly could head the committee.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp