Aides to former President Donald Trump are prepared to defy subpoenas for documents and testimony demanded by the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6th.
The Guardian, citing a single source ‘familiar with the matter,’ says each of the four aides – former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former adviser Steve Bannon, former communications official Dan Scavino, and former Defense Department official Kash Patel – are planning to resist the orders.
The report indicates that each will be defying the subpoenas at Trump’s direction and “would mark the first major investigative hurdle faced by the select committee.”
The Democrat-led panel issued the subpoenas in late September because the four top aides had been “working in or had communications with the White House on or in the days leading up to the January 6th insurrection.”
Committee member Adam Schiff (D-CA) previosuly warned that any of the Trump allies who do not comply with the subpoenas will be guilty of “criminal contempt.”
BREAKING: Newsmax has learned former President Donald Trump will invoke executive privilege against subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol, preventing testimony from former top Trump White House advisers. @stinchfield1776 pic.twitter.com/b8eJ7S8pQF
— Newsmax (@newsmax) October 7, 2021
RELATED: Pelosi’s January 6 Committee Subpoenas Four Trump Aides
Trump Aides May Defy Capitol Committee Subpoenas
The Guardian report indicates that the former President’s aides, at Trump’s direction, will defy the subpoenas based on executive privilege grounds.
“Increasingly concerned with the far-reaching nature of the 6 January investigation, Trump and his legal team …are moving to instruct the attorneys for the subpoenaed aides to defy the orders,” the outlet writes.
Trump indicated in a statement at the time the subpoenas were issued that he would invoke such a measure.
“We will fight the subpoenas on executive privilege and other grounds, for the good of our Country,” Trump wrote.
Meanwhile, he added, “we wait to find out whether or not subpoenas will be sent out to Antifa and BLM for the death and destruction they have caused in tearing apart our Democrat-run cities throughout America.”
SCOOP: Source tells me Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and top aides Scavino, Bannon and Patel are set to defy Jan. 6 committee subpoenas — under instructions from Trump. @GuardianUS https://t.co/a8hQtm5zJ0
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) October 6, 2021
RELATED: FBI Had Informant In Capitol Riot Crowd, He Denies Attack Was Planned
Fighting Back Against The Committee
A report surfacing on Wednesday indicates that at least one of the top Trump aides, Dan Scavino, is not cooperating with the select committee investigating the riot at the Capitol.
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“More than a week after subpoenaing former aide to President Trump Dan Scavino to cooperate with its investigation into the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, the House select committee has been unable to physically serve the subpoena to him,” CNN reports.
I stand with @DanScavino!
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 6, 2021
Representative Liz Cheney, serving as one of two ‘Never Trump’ Republicans on the committee, said she’s been privately encouraged by colleagues to keep attacking President Trump and his supporters.
“Yes,” Cheney replied when asked if GOP members had ‘whispered’ support in her ears..
She went on to claim “a lot” of GOP lawmakers were cheering her on “both in the House and the Senate.”
In July, Cheney expressed optimism that Trump himself would be forced to testify.
“They deserve to know about every phone call that was made in and out of the White House, every meeting, every discussion that was had that day in the White House as the Capitol building was under attack,” she said.
She may be in for a big surprise. https://t.co/XNUwpwGDYq
— ThePoliticalInsider (@TPInsidr) September 30, 2021
Many on the right think the committee is all for show.
A report in August by Reuters indicates the FBI found little evidence to suggest that the Capitol riot was a coordinated attack by the pro-Trump crowd.
“The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials,” Reuters wrote.
Just last week, The Political Insider covered news indicating the FBI had an informant planted in the crowd at the January 6 Capitol riot.
The FBI informant, according to confidential records obtained by the New York Times, insisted that the events unfolded spontaneously as part of a “mob consumed by a herd mentality rather than carrying out any type of preplanned attack.”
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