The House Select Committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters has subpoenaed four ex-Trump advisers, including Steve Bannon and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Also summoned were Dan Scavino, Trump’s former Deputy Chief of Staff of communications, and Kashyap Patel, assistant to Trump’s former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller.
The four have been instructed “to produce materials and appear at depositions,” the Committee said in a statement Thursday; Patel and Bannon have been ordered to appear on Oct. 14, with Meadows and Scavino told to appear the next day.
The Committee’s interest in Bannon stems from recent reporting that he was, as CNN put it this week, “knee deep” in planning the attack, which ultimately led to the deaths of 5 people with hundreds more injured, in addition to millions in damage to the Capitol building.
“Stephen Bannon reportedly communicated with former President Trump on December 30th, 2020, urging him to focus his efforts on January 6th,” the House Select Committee said Thursday. “Mr. Bannon also reportedly attended a gathering at the Willard Hotel on January 5th, 2021, as part of an effort to persuade Members of Congress to block the certification of the election the next day. Mr. Bannon is also quoted as stating, on January 5th, that “[a]ll Hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
Meadows has been summoned, the Committee said, because he “communicated with officials at the state level and in the Department of Justice as part of an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election or prevent the election’s certification.” In addition, the Committee cited reporting that he actively communicated with organizers of the attack.
Scavino is included, the Committee said, because he discussed with Trump how to convince members of congress to set aside the 2020 election results, because he repeatedly promoted the Jan. 6 rally that led to the attack, and tweeted messages to attendees from the White House.
And Patel, the Committee said, “was involved with discussions among senior Pentagon officials prior to and on January 6th, 2021, regarding security at the Capitol.” He also “told a reporter that he was talking to Mr. Meadows ‘nonstop that day.”
Read the letters sent to each person by the Committee: Steve Bannon; Mark Meadows; Kashyap Patel; Dan Scavino.