Jan. 6 panel subpoenas individuals who helped Trump campaign ‘alternate electors’ efforts

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol has subpoenaed six people it claims had knowledge of or helped develop the Trump campaign’s efforts to send “alternate electors” to that day’s certification of votes.

“The Select Committee is seeking information about efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington and change the outcome of the 2020 election. We’re seeking records and testimony from former campaign officials and other individuals in various states who we believe have relevant information about the planning and implementation of those plans,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a release.

Among those subpoenaed was Michael Roman and Gary Michael Brown, the director and deputy director of election day operations for former President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.

“The Select Committee is in possession of communications reflecting your involvement in a coordinated strategy to contact Republican members of state legislatures in certain states that former President Trump had lost and urge them to ‘reclaim’ their authority by sending an alternate slate of electors that would support former President Trump,” the committee wrote in its nearly identical subpoenas to the duo.

“It appears that you helped direct the Trump campaign staffers participating in this effort,” the committee added. 

The committee also subpoenaed two politicos it said had conversations with Trump about the plan: Kelli Ward, the Arizona GOP chair who has already sued the committee to block it from seeking her phone records, and Douglas Mastriano, a state lawmaker in Pennsylvania.

In the case of Ward, the committee says it has text messages sent from her to an Arizona election official in which she says that “we need you to stop counting” and “I know you don’t want to be remembered as the guy who led the charge to certify a fraudulent election.”

“You also apparently spoke with former President Trump and members of his staff about election certification issues in Arizona,” the committee wrote, noting she also advanced unsubstantiated theories of election interference by Dominion Voting Systems as a way to fundraise for the Arizona Republican Party.

The committee also alleged Ward “acted as a purported Electoral College elector to meet and ultimately transmit to Congress a set of alternate Electoral College votes.”

Mastriano was present at the Capitol on the day of the attack and tweeted that “state legislature has the sole authority to direct the manner of selecting delegates to the Electoral College.”

“We understand that you have knowledge of and participated in a plan to arrange for an alternate slate of electors to be presented to the President of the Senate on January 6, 2021, and we understand that you spoke with former President Trump about your post-election activities,” the committee wrote.

Also subpoenaed was Laura Cox, a former Republican state lawmaker in Michigan who the committee alleges witnessed a pressure campaign by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

“You were reportedly a witness when Rudy Giuliani pressured state lawmakers to disregard election results in Michigan and when he said that ceriting election results in Michigan would be a ‘criminal act,’” the committee wrote.

The final subpoena was issued to Mark Finchem, another Jan. 6 attendee who was in touch with “Stop the Steal” organizers and was scheduled to speak at their event at the Capitol that day.

Finchem also organized an event in Arizona seeking to combat purported fraud in the 2020 election.

“On November 30, 2020, you helped organize a purported hearing at a Phoenix, Arizona hotel where representatives from former President Trump’s legal team and others spoke and advanced unproven claims of election and voter fraud,” the committee wrote in its subpoena.

“During a break in the meeting, you reportedly claimed, ‘Not only do we have ballots that are improper but we have an election system that’s been hacked,’” the committee added.

The six subpoenas follow a similar round sent to 14 people involved in the scheme to submit fake Electoral College certificates claiming Trump had won in various battleground states that had gone to President Biden.

The group of people who were subpoenaed were all state GOP officials and activists from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Updated 5:47 p.m.