DOJ issues more subpoenas in probe of invalid Trump electors: reports

The Justice Department has issued more subpoenas in a probe tied to a fraudulent elector scheme aimed at rejecting President Biden’s 2020 presidential win, multiple news outlets reported.

The Washington Post, which was first to report the news, said the people who were issued subpoenas included Thomas Lane, who was involved in former President Trump’s campaign in New Mexico and Arizona, and Brad Carver, a Georgia lawyer who allegedly considered himself to be an elector for the former president.  

Officials with the FBI confirmed to the Post that court-authorized law enforcement action had been taken by agents in different places. The addresses of those targeted by federal agents were tied to the men, according to public records, though the FBI did not identify those targeted specifically.

A campaign aide for Trump in Michigan, Shawn Flynn, also received a subpoena, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar. People familiar told the Post that Georgia Republican Party chairman and alleged Trump elector David Shafer also received a subpoena.

The news outlets could not immediately reach Lane, Carver or Flynn for comment. A lawyer for Shafer declined to comment to the Post about the matter.

The FBI referred The Hill to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., which declined to comment when asked about the matter. 

The development comes as the Justice Department pursues its own investigation related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot while the House select committee investigating the attack continues to its slate of public hearings this month. 

In the latest hearing that the House panel held on Tuesday, the select committee presented evidence and testimony showing the role that the former president and his allies played in a pressure campaign to get officials from battleground states where Biden won to overturn those results by sending slates of so-called alternate electors to the Electoral College.

Among the revelations from the hearing was evidence connecting two Republican lawmakers — Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Rep. Andy Biggs (Ariz.) — to the fake elector scheme. 

A spokesperson for Johnson denied the senator’s involvement.

“The senator had no involvement in the creation of an alternate slate of electors and had no foreknowledge that it was going to be delivered to our office. This was a staff to staff exchange. His new Chief of Staff contacted the Vice President’s office,” Alexa Henning, a Johnson spokeswoman, tweeted.

“The Vice President’s office said not to give it to him and we did not. There was no further action taken. End of story,” she added in a follow-up tweet.

The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department, a lawyer for Shafer and Carver for comment. The Hill was not able to immediately reach Lane or Flynn for comment. 

— Updated June 23 at 4:24 p.m.