Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell Subpoenaed in Capitol Riot Probe
Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell Subpoenaed in Capitol Riot Probe
(Bloomberg) -- Rudy Giuliani and two other lawyers who helped former President Donald Trump advance baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election have been subpoenaed by the House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Along with Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis were part of a legal team that spearheaded an attempt to overturn the election results. Trump campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn also was summoned to testify by the committee.
“The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former president about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,” Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said in a statement Tuesday.
All four are ordered under the subpoenas to turn over documents by Feb. 1, and to appear for depositions on Feb. 8.
In a letter accompanying the subpoena to Giuliani, Thompson wrote that the committee has information that in the days prior to the Jan. 6 riot by Trump supporters, “you were in contact with then-President Trump and members of Congress regarding strategies for delaying or overturning the results of the 2020 election.”
The letter also says that Giuliani urged Trump to direct the seizure of voting machines around the country as part of the plan to convince state legislatures to overturn the election results. Giuliani was rebuffed in those efforts, though some states conducted so-called audits or recounts that failed to turn up any fraud.
Thompson’s letter to Powell says she also advocated seizing voting machines to find evidence to support her false claim “that foreign adversaries had hacked those machines and altered the results of the election.”
Trump and the others distanced themselves from Powell after she made claims that foreign actors were involved in subverting voting machines to change votes to Biden. Giuliani and Powell face defamation lawsuits by Dominion Voting Systems Inc. and Smartmatic Corp. over false claims that the voting-machine makers rigged the election.
Regarding Ellis, Thompson cited reports that she “prepared and circulated two memos purporting to analyze the constitutional authority for the vice president to reject or delay counting electoral votes from states that had submitted alternate slates of electors.”
Thompson points to reports in his letter to Epshteyn that place him at meetings held by Trump backers at a hotel near the White House in the days leading up to Jan. 6, and that Epshteyn was reported to have participated in a call with Trump that morning during which options were discussed to delay the certification of election results.
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