Jan. 6 panel subpoenas 6 more in fake GOP electors scheme
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection subpoenaed six more people Tuesday, including former Trump campaign members and state lawmakers, as it further expands its review into efforts to falsely declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election in several swing states.
The panel is seeking testimony and records from individuals who it says had knowledge of or participated in efforts to send false “alternate electors” from seven of the states President Joe Biden rightfully won.
“The Select Committee is seeking information about efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington and change the outcome of the 2020 election,” Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said in a statement. “We’re seeking records and testimony from former campaign officials and other individuals in various states who we believe have relevant information about the planning and implementation of those plans.”
The individuals subpoenaed include Michael Roman and Gary Michael Brown, who served as directors for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. The committee believes the two men reportedly promoted allegations of election fraud as well as encouraged state legislators to appoint false slates of electors.
The other four individuals are Pennsylvania State Sen. Douglas Mastriano, Laura Cox, the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem and Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward.
Messages requesting comment from Ward, Mastriano, Roman and Finchem were not immediately returned.
Two weeks ago, Ward and her husband filed a lawsuit against the House committee seeking to block a subpoena of their phone records. They were presidential electors who would have voted for Trump in the Electoral College had he won Arizona. Both signed a document falsely claiming they were Arizona’s true electors, despite Democrat Biden’s victory in the state. No decisions have been issued in the case.
Mastriano, a former Army officer currently seeking Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial nomination, was among Trump’s most dedicated supporters during the 2020 campaign, helping organize and host a four-hour hearing post-election that was attended by Rudy Giuliani and that Trump addressed remotely.
Finchem was on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, although he did not enter the building. He has been a vocal critic of the election results in Arizona, contending despite evidence to the contrary that Trump won in Arizona.
He is currently pushing a resolution in the state Legislature that seeks to overturn the state’s certification of the 2020 presidential election, listing a slew of debunked election fraud conspiracy theories. He is also seeking the Republican nomination to run for secretary of state, Arizona’s chief election officer.
The latest subpoenas come more than a month after the committee issued subpoenas to 14 people over the submission of false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
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This story has been corrected to identify Douglas Mastriano as a state senator.
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Associated Press writers Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Bob Christie and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report.