A committee investigating the US Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas to five more people, including former President Donald Trump's ally Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The subpoenas issued on Monday include demands for documents and testimony from Stone and Jones as well as three people accused of organising and promoting the January 6 rallies.
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, fuelled by his false 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.
"We need to know who organised, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organisers had with officials in the White House and Congress", Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel said.
Stone was convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation of lying to Congress about Russia-hacked Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. He was subsequently pardoned by Trump.
The House subpoena notes that Stone spoke at rallies on the day before the Capitol insurrection and used members of a far-right group, the Oath Keepers, as personal security guards while he was in Washington.
In a statement, Stone said any allegation of his involvement on that day was "categorically false."
"I have said time and time again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place at the Capitol on that day."
"After the subpoena is served and after my counsel reviews the requests, I will make the determination of how I will proceed", he said.
The House panel also wants to hear from Jones, with Thompson saying the conspiracy theorist and radio personality helped organise the rally at the Ellipse that preceded the insurrection.
The other three subpoenas were issued to Dustin Stockton, Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Budowich for their alleged involvement in the series of rallies following the 2020 presidential election.
Stockton and Lawrence were key leaders of the "Stop the Steal" movement. The couple said they planned to testify and would turn over documents requested by the committee.
Both have disavowed the violence.
"We were shocked and horrified by what happened on the 6th," Lawrence told The Associated Press on Monday. "We need to get to the bottom of what really happened so we can move forward as a country."
Budowich, who now serves as Trump's chief spokesperson, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The panel has already demanded documents and testimony from several other Trump advisers - some have cooperated and some have not. Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of Trump, was indicted on November 12 on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House committee. The committee is giving former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows more time to comply with a subpoena before the panel moves forward with a contempt vote.
Australian Associated Press