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      Keyword list for Trump lawyer hints at focus of US Capitol attack investigation

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      Keyword list for Trump lawyer hints at focus of US Capitol attack investigationHouse committee tells John Eastman to prioritize terms linked with possible conspiracy in complying with documents subpoena The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol is asking the former Trump lawyer John Eastman to prioritize turning over records with certain keywords as he complies with his subpoena – a list of terms that reveal the panel’s focus as it investigates a potential conspiracy.The keywords include a Gmail address used by Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and the names of various individuals involved in the effort to overturn the 2020 election, from top Trump aides to Republican members of Congress to the former justice department official Jeffrey Clark.Six of Donald Trump’s lawyers subpoenaed by Capitol attack panelRead moreThe search terms list – which the select committee transmitted to Eastman – provides a glimpse of what House investigators suspect might be contained among the thousands of emails and documents that Eastman is being forced to review to comply with his subpoena.But the keywords also reveal the current investigative focus of the panel and the role Eastman played as one of the leading members of the Trump “war room” at the Willard hotel in Washington that coordinated Trump’s plan to return himself to office on 6 January 2021.The list is intended to act as a dragnet to catch his records from 4 to 7 January about efforts to overturn the 2020 election results between Eastman and individuals in different “centres of gravity”, according to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation.One focus for the select committee is Eastman’s records concerning Donald Trump, former vice-president Mike Pence and top Trump officials, where keywords include items as simple as “Trump”, or “EOP”, the government acronym for the executive office of the president.The select committee is examining Eastman’s records about Republican members of Congress including Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar, Josh Hawley, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Jim Jordan, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Doug Mastriano, Scott Perry and Tommy Tuberville.Another priority for the panel is messages between Eastman and those he communicated with across the federal government. The list includes the domains “usdoj.gov” and “justice.gov” for the justice department, “senate.gov” for the Senate, and “house.gov” for the House.The select committee’s addition of “congressnc@gmail.com” – a sometime email address used by Meadows, who was a House Republican representing North Carolina before he became Trump’s final chief of staff – indicates it also wants messages not in official email records.The keywords also account for typos. In seeking Eastman’s messages with former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone, for instance, the panel included misspellings of his name they have found in other documents, from “Cippolone” to “Cippollone”.The list of terms is speculative insofar as it amounts only to what the select committee hopes are among Eastman’s most sensitive records and messages. But the keywords are there because the panel has reason to believe such communications exist, the source said.Taken together, the source said, the keywords reflect the panel’s suspicion that Eastman was at the heart of what could amount to an unlawful conspiracy between the Trump White House, GOP members of Congress and Trump loyalists at DoJ to obstruct Congress on 6 January.A spokesperson for the panel declined to comment. Eastman did not respond to a request for comment ahead of a hearing next week where he will attempt to withhold from the select committee documents he believes are protected by executive and attorney-client privilege.The list of keywords for Eastman also reflects the new urgency that has gripped the panel in recent weeks as it races to complete the evidence-gathering phase of the investigation.The panel is cognizant of how its investigators have managed to upend Washington with aggressive subpoena tactics more commonly seen in criminal prosecutions than congressional inquiries.For witnesses that might prove problematic, the chairman of the panel, Bennie Thompson, has moved to issue automatic subpoenas compelling documents and testimony, often before committee counsel has taken the customary step of first requesting voluntary cooperation.At the same time, the select committee has taken a broad view of its mandate: to investigate whether there was any coordination between the “political elements” of Trump’s plan to obstruct the certification of Biden’s election win in addition to the Capitol attack itself.That has increased the panel’s workload and pushed back the timeline, Thompson told the Guardian on Monday, though he said he still hoped for public hearings in April. “We keep adding to the list of people we need to talk to. That’s grown the body of work,” he said.TopicsUS Capitol attackHouse of RepresentativesDonald TrumpUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Six of Donald Trump’s lawyers subpoenaed by Capitol attack panel

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      Six of Donald Trump’s lawyers subpoenaed by Capitol attack panelThe panel is targeting documents and testimony from Cleta Mitchell, Kurt Olsen, Katherine Freiss, Phillip Kline, Kenneth Chesebro and Christina Bobb The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack has issued new subpoenas to lawyers for Donald Trump suspected to be involved in efforts to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.The subpoenas – authorized hours before Biden’s first State of the Union address – targeted documents and testimony from Cleta Mitchell, Kurt Olsen, Katherine Freiss, Phillip Kline, Kenneth Chesebro and the pro-Trump One America News host Christina Bobb.“The select committee is seeking information about attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of electoral votes and any efforts to corruptly change the outcome of the 2020 election,” said Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the panel.Rudy Giuliani poised to cooperate with January 6 committeeRead more“The six individuals we’ve subpoenaed today all have knowledge related to those matters and will help the select committee better understand all the various strategies employed to potentially affect the outcome of the election,” Thompson said.The subpoenas reflect the panel’s focus on Trump’s schemes to stop Biden’s certification from taking place, so that the former president’s associates could buy time to co-opt state legislatures to send Trump slates of electors to return him to office.The Guardian previously reported that Trump was himself intimately involved in the scheme and called the Trump “war room” set up in the Willard hotel in Washington the night before the Capitol attack to discuss ways to stop Biden’s certification from happening entirely.The Trump operatives involved in the Willard operation included Bobb, who joined the legal team at the hotel led by Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani and another Trump lawyer, John Eastman.The select committee said they subpoenaed Bobb as she was also involved in drawing up a draft executive order that would have directed federal agencies to seize voting machines in states Biden narrowly won over Trump on the basis of claims of election fraud.Mitchell was subpoenaed, the panel said, after she appeared to have contacts with GOP lawmakers and participated in the infamous phone call when Trump pressured Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensberger to “find” votes to reverse his loss in the state.The select committee also ordered documents and testimony from Freiss, a Trump lawyer who the panel said played a role in drawing up the draft executive order to seize voting machines.The Guardian reported that one version of the draft executive order was reviewed by Trump at a December 2020 White House meeting, and then verbally agreed to appoint Sidney Powell, another Trump attorney and conspiracy theorist, as special counsel to probe election fraud.Olsen pressured the justice department to open an investigation into election fraud, according to an interim Senate judiciary committee report released last year.Olsen also helped to draw up a draft executive order for Trump that would have directed the justice department to “take voter action” and, citing documents on file with the panel, had multiple calls with Trump on 6 January, the select committee said.Kline convened a meeting with 300 state legislators in an attempt to encourage them to sign a letter urging Mike Pence, then the vice-president, to delay the certification.Chesebro actively promoted legal theories within the Trump campaign supporting the use of slates of bogus electors in states the former president lost, the select committee chairman said in his subpoena letter.TopicsUS Capitol attackDonald TrumpHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      January 6 rioter who carried Nancy Pelosi’s podium fined and sentenced

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      January 6 rioter who carried Nancy Pelosi’s podium fined and sentencedFloridian Adam Johnson shouted encouragement to rioters breaking down the doors to the House chamber The Capitol rioter who was pictured carrying Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and bragged he had “broken the internet” in doing so has been sentenced to 75 days in prison and a $5,000 fine.Adam Johnson, 37 and from Florida, was photographed carrying the podium on 6 January 2021.He and other supporters of Donald Trump stormed Congress in an attempt to stop certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory, in service of Trump’s lie that his defeat was the result of electoral fraud.More than 700 have been charged over the riot, 11 with seditious conspiracy. Trump was impeached but acquitted. He and his aides are the subject of an investigation by a House select committee. One aide, Steve Bannon, has pleaded not guilty to criminal contempt of Congress, a charge that carries jail time.Johnson will spend time in jail, having pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.The US Department of Justice requested 90 days’ imprisonment. It also noted, in itemising Johnson’s activities on 6 January 2021, that he “witnessed rioters attempt to break down the doors to the House chamber and encouraged them to do so by shouting that a bust of George Washington would make ‘a great battering ram’”.In court on Friday, assistant US attorney Jessica Arco said: “Mr Johnson was part of a mob. He knew that.”Lawyers for Johnson said of his viral photograph: “Unfortunately, he received considerable attention simply because the lectern belonged to Speaker of the House. Arguably, if he latched on to some other piece of government furniture for his photo opportunity jail time would not even be a consideration.”The judge, Reggie B Walton, disagreed.“We’re on a dangerous slide in America,” he said, calling January 6 something he would ordinarily expect to see in “banana republics”.Johnson said he was ashamed, and suggested that if he had acted as he did in other countries he might have ended up in front of a firing squad “instead of [in] a courtroom”.He also said he never intended to hurt Pelosi and said: “If I did find her, I would ask for a selfie with her, if anything.”TopicsUS Capitol attackNancy PelosiUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Ivanka Trump in talks to cooperate with January 6 panel, reports say

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      Ivanka Trump in talks to cooperate with January 6 panel, reports sayEx-president’s daughter may voluntarily appear for an interview, according to congressional committee Ivanka Trump is in talks with the January 6 House select committee about potentially cooperating with the panel, according to multiple US media reports.“Ivanka Trump is in discussions with the Committee to voluntarily appear for an interview,” a spokesperson for the daughter of former President Donald Trump said in a statement on Wednesday, CNN reported.According to the New York Times, which first reported the discussions, it remains unclear whether the preliminary negotiations would result in Trump actually providing substantial information to the committee.US Capitol attack panel discusses subpoena for Ivanka TrumpRead moreEarlier this month, the Guardian reported that the committee was considering issuing a subpoena to Trump to force her cooperation with the inquiry into the former president’s efforts to return himself to power on 6 January 2021.Any move to subpoena Trump and, for the first time, force a member of Donald Trump’s own family to testify against him, would mark a dramatic escalation in the January 6 inquiry that would amount to a treacherous legal and political moment for the former president.In January, the committee released a public letter addressed to Ivanka Trump in which committee members called upon her to provide “voluntary cooperation with our investigation”.“We write to request your voluntary cooperation with our investigation on a range of critical topics … We respect your privacy, and our questions will be limited to issues relating to January 6th, the activities that contributed to or influenced events on January 6th, and your role in the White House during that period,” the letter said.Sources familiar with the discussions told the New York Times that Trump had not yet agreed on a date for when she might speak with the committee and that the panel had not made any subpoena threats.Trump reportedly does not plan to follow in the steps of Steve Bannon, a staunch ally of her father who refused to cooperate with the panel and was later indicted for contempt of Congress. The sources added that Donald Trump had not requested his daughter refuse the committee’s requests.In the letter addressed to Ivanka Trump last month, the committee revealed new details about attempts to urge Donald Trump to condemn the violence on 6 January 2021.According to Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general and the former vice-president Mike Pence’s national security adviser, Ivanka Trump and White House officials urged the president twice to condemn the violence.Donald Trump allegedly said no to aides, including his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany. Kellogg then asked Ivanka Trump to speak to the president, saying: “She went back in, because Ivanka can be pretty tenacious.”In an interview with the Washington Examiner last month, the former president criticized the committee’s investigation into his children, saying, “It’s a very unfair situation for my children … Very, very unfair.”TopicsUS Capitol attackIvanka TrumpDonald TrumpUS CongressnewsReuse this content More

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      Rudy Giuliani poised to cooperate with January 6 committee

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      Rudy Giuliani poised to cooperate with January 6 committeeTrump’s former lawyer may reveal the roles played by Republicans to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s election victory Donald Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani is expected to cooperate with the House select committee investigating January 6, and potentially reveal his contacts with Republican members of Congress involved in the former president’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.The move by Giuliani to appear before the panel – in a cooperation deal that could be agreed within weeks, according to two sources briefed on negotiations – could mark a breakthrough moment for the inquiry as it seeks to interview key members of Trump’s inner circle.That is the case because even though Trump’s allies and Republican members of Congress already known to have been involved in such efforts have refused to help the panel, Giuliani is now in a position to inform House investigators about any possible culpability.Broadly, Giuliani has indicated through his lawyer to the select committee that he will produce documents and answer questions about Trump’s schemes to return himself to office on 6 January that House investigators had outlined in a subpoena issued to him last month.Rudy Giuliani and Michael Flynn to see honorary university degrees revokedRead moreThe former president’s attorney is prepared to reveal his contacts and the roles played by Republican members of Congress in the scheme Giuliani helped orchestrate to have then-vice-president Mike Pence stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.Giuliani is also prepared to divulge details about Trump’s pressure campaign on Pence to adopt the scheme, and the effort coordinated by him and the Trump White House to have legislatures certify slates of electors for Trump in states actually won by Biden.But the former president’s attorney has indicated that he will assist the select committee only if his appearance is not pursuant to his subpoena, and does not have to give records or discuss his contacts with Trump over executive and attorney-client privilege concerns.Giuliani is prepared to make exceptions in instances where the panel can demonstrate that meetings with Trump that would have otherwise been subject to those protections might have been broken, and that the protections should not apply.The demands surrounding the circumstances of his cooperation reflect comments he made on Newsmax last week when he falsely claimed the select committee was “illegal”, and claimed that “it doesn’t have minority membership and really can’t subpoena anybody.”The select committee appears to have ignored his remarks as they move to finalize an agreement with Giuliani. The comments did not come up in recent talks and the panel last week allowed Giuliani to postpone his document production deadline for a second time, one of the sources said.That may be explained in large part because of the panel’s determination to get the cooperation of one of Trump’s closest if problematic advisers who was involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election from the start – and has a penchant for sometimes revealing too much.Giuliani could speak to events such as a 18 December 2020 meeting in the Oval Office where Trump reviewed a draft executive order to seize voting machines and verbally agreed to install conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell as special counsel to investigate election fraud.The Guardian has reported that Giuliani then led the Trump “war room” at the Willard hotel in Washington DC when Trump called from the White House and discussed ways to stop Biden’s certification – and could speak to non-privileged elements of the plan.The cooperation deal would also technically involve Giuliani turning over documents in addition to appearing before the select committee, the sources said, but the logistics were unclear given the FBI last year seized his devices that he used on 6 January.Giuliani is committed to appearing before the panel, the source said, but it was not clear whether he would testify under oath in a closed-door deposition, for which the select committee has been pushing, or appear in a more informal interview on Capitol Hill.A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment on negotiations with witnesses. The sources added negotiations could still collapse, but if a deal could be agreed, Giuliani would probably appear before the panel at least before the end of March.The select committee has been quietly making substantial progress in its investigation into the events of 6 January, securing records from the National Archives, as well as documents and testimony from some of Trump’s top aides and advisers.‘Rudy is really hurt’: Giuliani reportedly banned from Fox NewsRead moreLast month, the chairman of the panel, congressman Bennie Thompson, revealed that House investigators had spoken to more than 500 witnesses and obtained more than 50,000 documents, including thousands from Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.The willingness by Giuliani to negotiate what appears to be an expansive cooperation deal has come in stark contrast to the defiance expressed by the initial set of Trump aides and advisers who were subpoenaed by the select committee last year.Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon refused to comply with his subpoena in its entirety, boasting executive privilege protection – only to be referred to the justice department for criminal contempt of Congress and indicted on two counts about four weeks later.That has served as a warning to other witnesses. Even if his cooperation deal ultimately falls through, Giuliani may be engaging with the select committee at least to avoid a similar fate to Bannon and a potentially costly legal battle to fight such charges.The benefits of partial cooperation have also become apparent, after Meadows was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to appear for a deposition as required by his subpoena, but remains unindicted two months after his initial referral to the justice department.TopicsRudy GiulianiDonald TrumpUS politicsUS Capitol attackUS elections 2020newsReuse this content More

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      Far-right Oath Keepers leader to stay in jail until Capitol attack trial, judge rules

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      Far-right Oath Keepers leader to stay in jail until Capitol attack trial, judge rulesStewart Rhodes ‘presents a clear and convincing danger’ after spending thousands on weapons before riot, judge says The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, will remain in jail until his seditious-conspiracy trial for allegedly helping plot the assault on the US Capitol, a US judge said, calling him a “clear and convincing danger”.The US district judge Amit Mehta said during a Friday court hearing that Rhodes spent thousands of dollars on weapons and other equipment ahead of the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters and also made “substantial purchases” of weapons afterwards.“He presents a clear and convincing danger, in my view,” Mehta said.Rhodes’s lawyers had proposed he be released into the custody of relatives in California, where he would stay in a separate residence on their property without access to the internet.Mehta said he was not satisfied with that arrangement, stating that Rhodes “has been extremely sophisticated with his ability to communicate”.Criminal defendants are often released pending trial, since they are presumed innocent until convicted, but can be held if they are deemed dangerous or likely to flee the country.How the arrest of a far-right militia leader signals a new chapter in the January 6 inquiryRead moreRhodes, 56, is the most high-profile defendant of the more than 725 people charged with playing a role in the attack. His lawyer said there was no evidence that Rhodes conspired to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election.He is one of 11 members or associates of the Oath Keepers facing a seditious conspiracy charge.Rhodes is accused of spearheading a conspiracy to block the certification of the presidential election by recruiting others and even stationing armed “quick reaction force” units outside of Washington to be ready to stop the peaceful transfer of power.A US magistrate judge in Texas last month ruled Rhodes should be detained, after hearing testimony from an FBI agent as well as Rhodes’ ex-wife, who expressed concerns for her safety. Rhodes appealed that decision to Mehta. TopicsUS Capitol attackThe far rightnewsReuse this content More

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      US Capitol attack panel discusses subpoena for Ivanka Trump

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      US Capitol attack panel discusses subpoena for Ivanka TrumpHouse select committee is considering best way to get evidence from ex-president’s daughter about his efforts to cling to power The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is considering issuing a subpoena to Ivanka Trump to force her cooperation with the inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to return himself to power on 6 January, according to a source familiar with the matter.Any move to subpoena Ivanka Trump and, for the first time, force a member of Trump’s own family to testify against him, would mark a dramatic escalation in the 6 January inquiry that could amount to a treacherous legal and political moment for the former president. Biden orders release of Trump White House visitor logs to January 6 panelRead moreThe panel is not expected to take the crucial step for the time being, the source said, and the prospect of a subpoena to the former president’s daughter emerged in discussions about what options remained available after she appeared to refuse a request for voluntary cooperation.But the fact that members on the select committee have started to discuss a subpoena suggests they believe it may ultimately take such a measure – and the threat of prosecution should she defy it – to ensure her appearance at a deposition on Capitol Hill.The select committee did not address a possible subpoena for Ivanka Trump at a closed-door meeting last Friday, and the panel wants to give her a reasonable window of opportunity to engage with the investigation before moving to force her cooperation, the source said.The panel would also have to formally vote to move ahead with such a measure, the source said, and Thompson would probably inform the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, of the decision before formally authorizing a subpoena to the former president’s daughter.But members on the select committee are not confident that Ivanka Trump would appear on her own volition, the source said, and the discussion about a subpoena reflected how important they consider her insight into whether Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy on 6 January.The chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, said in an 11-page letter requesting her voluntary cooperation last month that the panel wanted to ask about Trump’s plan to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory to return himself to office.Ivanka Trump was close to the former president in the days leading up to the Capitol attack, Thompson said, and appeared to have learned the plan to have the then vice-president, Mike Pence, refuse to certify Biden’s election win in certain states was possibly unlawful.“The committee has information suggesting that President Trump’s White House counsel may have concluded that the actions President Trump directed Vice-President Pence to take would … otherwise be illegal. Did you discuss these issues?” the letter said.The letter added House investigators had additional questions about whether Ivanka Trump could say whether the former president had been told that such an action might be unlawful, and yet nonetheless persisted in pressuring Pence to reinstall him for a second term.Thompson also said in the letter that the panel wanted to learn more about Trump’s indifference to the insurrection, and discussions inside the White House about his tweet castigating Pence for not adopting his plan as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in his name.The letter said a persistent question for Ivanka Trump – who White House aides thought had the best chance of persuading the former president to condemn the rioters – was what she did about the situation and why her father did not call off the rioters in a White House address.The select committee said in the letter that they also wanted to ask her about what she knew with regard to the long delay in deploying the national guard to the Capitol, which allowed the insurrection to overwhelm law enforcement into the afternoon of 6 January.Thompson said that House investigators were curious why there appeared to have been no evidence that Trump issued any order to request the national guard, or called the justice department to request the deployment of personnel to the Capitol.A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment on whether the panel was considering a subpoena for Ivanka Trump or the content of the Friday meeting. Neither a spokesperson for the former president nor Ivanka Trump responded to requests for comment.But Ivanka Trump has appeared to suggest she is not prepared to appear voluntarily, and said in a statement at the time of the letter requesting voluntary cooperation that “as the committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally”.TopicsUS Capitol attackIvanka TrumpDonald TrumpHouse of RepresentativesnewsReuse this content More