Trump Speechwriter’s Testimony Subpoenaed by Capitol Riot Panel

(Bloomberg) -- The House committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol issued subpoenas for testimony from three more people, including the speechwriter who helped draft the address that then-President Donald Trump delivered at a rally on the morning of the riot.

Along with that former official, Ross Worthington, the committee said it had also subpoenaed Andy Surabian and Arthur Schwartz, identified as advisers to Donald Trump Jr. The three men are being asked to provide records and closed-door testimony.

The subpoenas were announced Tuesday by committee Chair Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.

“The Select Committee is seeking information from individuals who were involved with the rally at the Ellipse,” Thompson said in a statement. “Protests on that day escalated into an attack on our democracy. Protesters became rioters who carried out a violent attempt to derail the peaceful transfer of power.”

In a letter to Worthington, Thompson said that in his speech on the morning of Jan. 6, “Trump falsely asserted that he had won the 2020 Presidential election and urged the crowd to ‘fight much harder” and ‘stop the steal.’ along with urging the crowd to march to the Capitol and saying, ‘I’ll be there with you.’”

Thompson writes in letters to Surabian and Schwartz the panel has reason to believe they communicated about plans for the rally at the Ellipse that preceded the storming of the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters. Those communications included exchanges with Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign figure, Thompson wrote. 

Thompson said more than 340 people have spoken with the committee. 

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