众议院特别委员会调查1月6日国会大厦袭击事件周二向特朗普的前白宫助手和助手发出了三份新的传票,其中包括一名演讲稿撰写人,他在国会大厦骚乱前帮助起草了前总统唐纳德·特朗普对支持者的演讲。
该小组传唤了共和党特工亚瑟·施瓦茨和安德鲁·苏拉比,以及特朗普白宫演讲稿撰写人罗斯·沃星顿。
“特别委员会正在向参与椭圆集会的个人寻求信息。那一天的抗议升级为对我们民主的攻击。,在一份声明中说道。“我们有理由相信,我们今天传唤的这些人掌握了相关信息,我们预计他们将加入340多名与特别委员会交谈的人的行列,因为我们正在推进调查对我们民主的攻击,并确保再也不会发生类似的事情。”
该委员会指出,该小组获得的记录显示,苏拉比安和施瓦茨都与小唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump Jr .)有关系,自这位前总统首次竞选总统以来,他们一直在他的轨道上,并与国家广场集会的组织者和演讲者进行了沟通。
“虽然我们计划在合理的范围内与委员会合作,但我们对苏拉比为什么会被传唤感到困惑,”苏拉比的律师丹尼尔·比恩在一份声明中告诉美国广播公司新闻。“他与当天在首都发生的事件完全没有关系,也没有参与组织此前的集会,截至2020年11月15日,他已从特朗普竞选团队的工资单上除名。”
施瓦茨和沃星顿没有立即回应置评请求。
据该委员会称,沃星顿当天帮助起草了特朗普对支持者的演讲——在特朗普鼓励他们这样做后,许多支持者后来穿过国家广场游行到国会大厦。
特朗普的演讲和意图是2010年辩论的焦点特朗普的第二次弹劾审判,当时众议院民主党人指控他煽动暴乱。
曼德尔·恩根/法新社,通过盖蒂图像,文件
在这张摄于2021年1月6日的档案照片中,美国总统唐纳德·特朗普对支持者说.
他的律师在参议院辩称,总统没有呼吁对立法者或国会警察采取暴力行动。
该委员会要求所有三名证人在1月24日前交出记录,并在月底或2月初出庭接受采访。
迄今为止,该小组已公开披露了53份传票,调查人员获得了数万页的记录,包括特朗普白宫的一些记录,以及马克·梅多斯(Mark Meadows)提供的短信和电子邮件,他曾担任特朗普最后一任白宫办公厅主任。
该委员会准备在未来几周举行公开听证会,也寻求自愿质疑参与挑战选举结果的共和党议员。
俄亥俄州共和党众议员吉姆·乔丹和宾夕法尼亚州共和党众议员斯科特·佩里。,拒绝配合调查,专家组也不排除试图强迫他们作证。
该委员会还与前副总统迈克·彭斯的助手和助手接触,特朗普和其他人试图在他主持1月6日的选举计票时施加压力,推翻选举结果。
委员会传唤了彭斯的长期助手马克·肖特,他的律师继续就证词和合作问题与专家组接触。
汤普森也在2006年建议最近的一次NPR采访委员会可能会在未来几周要求采访彭斯。
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Trump speechwriter, GOP operatives
The House select committeeinvestigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attackissued three new subpoenas on Tuesday to former Trump White House aides and associates, including a speechwriter who helped craft former President Donald Trump's speech to supporters ahead of the Capitol riot.
The panel has subpoenaed GOP operatives Arthur Schwartz and Andrew Surabian, along with Trump White House speechwriter Ross Worthington.
"The Select Committee is seeking information from individuals who were involved with the rally at the Ellipse. Protests on that day escalated into an attack on our democracy," Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement. "We have reason to believe the individuals we’ve subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to join the more than 340 individuals who have spoken with the Select Committee as we push ahead to investigate this attack on our democracy and ensure nothing like this ever happens again."
Both Surabian and Schwartz, who have ties to Donald Trump Jr. and have been in the former president's orbit since he first ran for president, communicated with organizers and speakers at the rally on the National Mall, the committee said, pointing to records obtained by the panel.
undefinedMORE: How the Jan. 6 committee is piecing together the 'puzzle' of the Capitol attack
"While we plan on cooperating with the Committee within reason, we are bewildered as to why Mr. Surabian is being subpoenaed in the first place," Surabian's lawyer, Daniel Bean, told ABC News in a statement. "He had nothing at all to do with the events that took place at the Capital that day, zero involvement in organizing the rally that preceded it and was off the payroll of the Trump campaign as of November 15, 2020."
Schwartz and Worthington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the committee, Worthington helped draft Trump's speech that day to supporters -- many of whom later marched across the National Mall to the Capitol after he encouraged them to do so.
Trump's speech and intentions were a focus of debate duringTrump's second impeachment trial, when House Democrats charged him with inciting the riot.
In this file photo taken on Jan. 6, 2021, President Donald Trump speaks to supporters fro...
His lawyers argued before the Senate that the president did not call for violence against lawmakers or Capitol Police.
The committee has asked all three witnesses to turn over records by Jan. 24 and appear for interviews at the end of the month, or early February.
To date, the panel has publicly disclosed 53 subpoenas, and investigators have obtained tens of thousands of pages of records, including some from the Trump White House, and text messages and emails provided by Mark Meadows, who served as Trump's last White House chief of staff.
undefinedMORE: Jan. 6 committee asks Fox News host Sean Hannity to cooperate with probe
The committee, which is prepared to hold public hearings in the coming weeks, has also sought to voluntarily question GOP lawmakers involved in efforts to challenge the election results.
Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Scott Perry, R-Pa., have refused to cooperate with the inquiry, and the panel has not ruled out trying to compel their testimony.
The committee is also engaging with aides and associates of former Vice President Mike Pence, who Trump and others tried to pressure to overturn the election results while he presided over the counting of the electoral votes on Jan. 6.
Longtime Pence aide Marc Short has been subpoenaed by the committee, and his attorney continues to engage with the panel regarding testimony and cooperation.
Thompson also suggested ina recent NPR interviewthat the committee could request to interview Pence in the coming weeks.