By Aaron Miller-
Fresh Subpoenas have been imposed on officials working on Donald Trump’s third campaign for the White House have been slapped with fresh subpoenas as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
The four-page subpoena that campaign officials received on December 9 seeks information in more than 20 different categories, it has today been revealed by The Washington Post.
The request about Dominion and Smartmatic seems intended to determine whether the Trump team’s private conversations matched their public railings against the two companies—despite no evidence suggesting the companies were involved in any fraud.
Among the questions it reportedly asks staffers to address are whether anyone other than themselves are paying for their legal counsel, along with “all documents and communications” involving a series of Trump-related fundraising groups and documents concerning a so-called “Election Defense Fund” to raise money after Trump lost the election.
The subpoena also requests further details on issues already known to be part of a special counsel’s investigation, including information on a plot to install fake pro-Trump electors in swing states won by President Joe Biden to ensure Trump won a second term.
The new subpoenas was approved as part of the federal January 6 investigation now overseen by special counsel Jack Smith, suggesting the probe has no signs of slowing down even after the change in leadership. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to replace himself as head of the investigation in November following Trump’s 2024 campaign announcement, citing a potential conflict of interest as an appointed member of the Biden Administration.
The House January 6 committee made four criminal referrals against Trump to the DOJ last month following the conclusion of its 18-month investigation, including inciting or engaging in an insurrection, but any decisions on filing criminal charges are ultimately up to the DOJ. Smith’s team is also investigating why a trove of classified records were stored in Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home, a probe that led FBI agents to search his residence last year.Trump campaign officials got subpoena asking new questions about Jan. 6 (Forbes)
The staffers received the subpoenas early last month requiring them to hand over information on more than 20 different subjects including communications about Dominion voting machines, according to The Washington Post.
The subpoenas come a few days after Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in jail after pleading guilty to tax crimes stemming from an investigation into Mr Trump’s business empire.
It was also revealed on Wednesday that Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who helped to amplify Donald Trump’s false claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election, has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors seeking documents about payments he received from Trump or his presidential campaign, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.
The subpoena, which was issued in November, also asks Giuliani to provide testimony, said the person, who declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Georgia state lawmakers have been resisting a state court ruling that forced some of them to testify during an investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in the state.
The curtains have been closing in on the former U.S president who held a rally on the January 6 2021, inciting the mob crowd to ”fight like hell” otherwise they ”won’t have a country anymore, as he vilified his then vice president for not having ”the courage to do the right thing”.
Trump resisted calls from his advisers to intervene and tell the crowd to go come, but delayed doing so for hours, eventually yielding in to pressure, and asking them to go home, telling them ”we love you, you are erey special”.
The state House and Senate adopted rules Wednesday that say legislative privilege — a legal concept rooted in the U.S. and Georgia constitutions that says lawmakers shouldn’t face questioning for activities relating to making laws — should protect communications with people outside the legislature.
Crucially, the language is only part of legislative rules. It’s not clear if it would hold up in court, and judges nationwide have typically limited sweeping claims of legislative privilege.
During a presidential debate with Joe Biden in 2020, Mr Trumo said: “Proud Boys – stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you what. Somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.”
On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that prosecutors can use the footage of the then-president making the inflammatory comments during the trial of five members of the far-right group.
District Judge Timothy Kelly said that the comments show “an additional motive to advocate for Mr Trump (and) engage in the charged conspiracy” to try to stop the certification of the electoral college votes in favour of President Joe Biden.
Former group leader Enrique Tarrio and four others have been charged with seditious conspiracy and other crimes over the 6 January Capitol riots in a trial that begins today.
Trump is vying for presidential candidature for the U.S 2024 elections, but the legal forces against him are moving at fast speed.