4 Trump Allies Issued Subpoenas by Committee Investigating Jan 6 Capitol Attack

Trump and his team vow to fight back using executive privilege.

Rioting Trump supporters storm the Capitol Building on 6 January

(image: AP)

The select committee of the US House of Representatives that is in charge of the January 6 Capitol attack investigation subpoenaed former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, former Counselor to the President Steve Bannon and former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense Kash Patel on Thursday, 23 September.

The committee, led by Democrat Bennie Thompson, has stepped up its investigation, recently requesting the White House to provide records of the previous administration. It has also requested telecom and social media companies to preserve communication records.

The four subpoenaed men were also asked to provide records and appear for oral testimonies in October.

The Washington Post reported that while Meadows had been unreachable, Scavino and Bannon were unresponsive to requests for their comments on the matter.

Patel, on the other hand, issued a statement in which he claimed to be "disappointed, but not surprised" that the committee would subpoena him and not consider his voluntary cooperation.

Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Donald Trump, referred to the subpoenas as communist styled, arguing that they lacked merit, reported CNBC.

He also said that executive privilege - the right of a US president and members of his/her administration to maintain confidentiality of communications that happened during their tenure - will be used as a defence against the subpoenas.

Later on Thursday night, Trump issued a statement in which he accused the committee members of being "highly partisan" and reiterated the untrue claim that the 2020 Presidential Election that he lost had been rigged against him.

Reuters reported that in a letter to Bannon, Representative Thompson asked for his documents and testimony as the former was quoted stating one day before the attack, "all hell is going to break loose tomorrow."

(With inputs from The Washington Post, CNBC, and Reuters)