Corrected paragraph six in the December 10 story to indicate that Bryan Lewis is no longer being subpoenaed. Brian Lewis used to be a Fox News employee.

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives Committee probing the Jan. 6, deadly Capitol riot announced on Friday that it had issued six additional subpoenas seeking information from witnesses. This included some former White House aides.

A subpoena was issued by the House of Representatives Select Committee to Brian Jack who was Trump’s White House political director. Max Miller, an ex-special assistant to Trump, is running for a House seat with Trump’s endorsement. Bobby Peede, a former director of White House advance staff that prepared events for Trump’s arrival.

Peede, Miller and the committee discussed Trump’s Jan. 6 rallies with him in private at the White House. Jack apparently reached out to many members of Congress to offer to address the rally.

Jack was later appointed by Kevin McCarthy, House Republican Leader, to head his congressional political operations.

“Some of our witnesses today appear to have helped to organize the rallies Jan. 5th and 6, and some seemed to be in direct communication with President Bush regarding the rally at Ellipse just before the attack on U.S. Capitol,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the committee, stated in a statement.

Subpoenas were also issued to Bryan Lewis by the committee, for whom the committee claimed he obtained a permit for an event outside the Capitol. Ed Martin was described by the committee as the organizer of Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement, falsely claiming that Trump lost the election. Kim Fletcher runs Moms for America, which organized the Jan. 5 rally close to the Capitol.

They were not able to reach the individuals who had sent the subpoenas or responded immediately to our requests.

CONTEMPTATION OF CONGRESS

This committee received more than 50 subpoenas from supporters of Republican Presidents, and more than 275 witnesses during its investigation. Congress met to officially certify Joe Biden’s defeat in November 2020.

The riot left four people dead and one Capitol officer who was injured while protecting Congress died on the following day. Over 100 police officers were hurt during the multihour assault, and four of them have taken their lives since.

Three Trump supporter have been charged with contempt of Congress for failing to follow subpoenas. They are former White House Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark. Clark is a former Trump Justice Department official.

Trump has asked his associates to not cooperate. He called the Democratic-led investigation “politically motivated” and claimed that executive privilege protects his communications. Numerous courts rejected this argument. The Washington federal appeals court on Thursday said that Trump has not provided any basis for his claim.