4 more, ex-Trump ally subpoenaed by House

WASHINGTON: A committee investigating the January 6 US Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas to five more individuals, including former President Donald Trump’s ally Roger Stone, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as lawmakers deepened their probe of the rallies that preceded the deadly attack.

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 two rallies that took place on January 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 Representative Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel.

“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.”

The subpoenas are the latest in a wide net the House of Representatives panel has cast in an effort to investigate the deadly 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 President 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 House of Representatives 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 January 6, have signalled they will cooperate.

Stone was convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation of lying to Congress about his efforts to gather inside information about Russiahacked Democratic emails that were published by WikiLeaks in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. He was subsequently pardoned by Trump.