A committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol issued subpoenas Monday to five more individuals, including former President Donald Trump’s ally Roger Stone and radio host Alex Jones.
The subpoenas include demands for documents and testimony from Stone and Jones as well as three people accused of organizing and promoting the two rallies that took place on Jan. 6.
“The Select Committee is seeking information about the rallies and subsequent march to the Capitol that escalated into a violent mob attacking the Capitol and threatening our democracy,” said Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel. “We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress.”
Stone issued a statement saying he has said “time and again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place on the Capitol that day.” Any claim to the contrary is “categorically false,” he said.
The subpoenas are the latest in a wide net the House panel has cast in an effort to investigate the day when a group of Trump’s supporters, fueled by his claims of a stolen election, brutally assaulted police and smashed their way into the Capitol to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
The committee has already interviewed more than 150 people across government, social media and law enforcement, including some former Trump aides who have been cooperative. The panel has subpoenaed more than 20 witnesses, and most of them, including several associates who helped plan the massive “Stop the Steal” rally the morning of Jan. 6, have signaled they will cooperate.
In addition to Stone and Jones, the committee also issued subpoenas to Duston Stockton, Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Budowich.
According to a press release from the committee, Stockton “reportedly assisted in organizing a series of rallies after the November 2020 election advancing unsupported claims about the election’s outcome, including the rally at the Ellipse on January 6th immediately preceding the attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
Stockton reportedly was worried that the rally at the Ellipse would lead to a march to the Capitol that would mean “possible danger” that he said “felt unsafe,” according to the committee. Those concerns were supposedly told to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Lawrence is Stockton’s fiancee and was reportedly also involved in organizing rallies following the November election, including the Ellipse rally on Jan. 6.
Budowich reportedly solicited a 501c(4) organization to conduct a social media and radio advertising campaign to encourage attendance at the Jan. 6th Ellipse rally.
Stone was subpoenaed because he was in D.C. on Jan. 5 and 6, speaking at rallies on the 5th. He was scheduled to speak at the Ellipse rally on the 6th.
“Mr. Stone has made remarks that he was planning to ‘lead a march to the Capitol” from the Ellipse rally,’ the committee’s statement said.
Jones is believed to be an organizer of the Ellipse rally, according to the committee, “including by facilitating a donation to provide what he described as ‘eighty percent’ of the funding. Mr. Jones spoke at the January 5th rally on Freedom Plaza that was sponsored by the Eighty Percent Coalition.”
“Mr. Jones has stated that he was told by the White House that he was to lead a march from the January 6th Ellipse rally to the Capitol, where President Trump would meet the group and speak,” the committee’s statement continued. “Mr. Jones has repeatedly promoted unsupported allegations of election fraud, including encouraging individuals to attend the Ellipse rally on January 6th and implying he had knowledge about the plans of the former President with respect to the rally.”
Numerous other Trump officials have been subpoenaed, including Meadows and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. Most have refused to cooperate, citing Trump’s claim of executive privilege.
Bannon has been indicted for contempt of Congress.
Newsmax’s Jack Gournell contributed.
Via Newsmax
