6 January Committee to Issue 20 New Subpoenas as Judge Throws Out Trump's Executive Privilege Claim

The former president earlier attempted to prevent the House committee launched by the Democrats, from obtaining records of his team's communications in the run-up to the January storming of the Capitol. The committee is trying to find evidence that Trump orchestrated that attack.

The chairman of the House 6 January Committee, Democrat Bennie Thompson, has revealed that he has signed around 20 new subpoenas and added that they will be going out "soon" without revealing details, including who might be on the list.

"Some of the people have been written about. Some of the people haven't been written about".

Bennie Thompson

House 6 January Committee Chairman

Thompson, however, assured that there are no lawmakers among the new subpoenas... at least "not yet". Earlier reports said that Trump's former lawyer John Eastman, who had distanced himself from advising the former POTUS from overturning the 2020 election results, will be subpoenaed by the committee.

The committee already held Trump's former aide Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for refusing to show up after being subpoenaed. His case was transferred to the Department of Justice.

Trump's Legal Team Suffers Blow in Fight Against 6 January Committee

As the House 6 January Committee prepares to issue new subpoenas, it is also in the process of getting hold of the records of communications between the members of Trump's administration and his campaign, which it had requested earlier.

The former president tried to prevent that from happening by invoking executive privilege - the right an incumbent president can use to deny handing over communication records to Congress as a measure to maintain the separation of powers.

However, District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan for the District of Columbia, struck that attempt down on 4 November, casting doubt on the Trump legal team's claims that the former president enjoys such privilege too.

"There is only one executive […] I don't see where the separation of powers argument that you're making exists", the Obama-appointed judge said, commenting on several statements made by Trump's attorney.

At the same time, Chutkan noted that the demands of the 6 January committee, namely to hand over all communications for several months, might be a bit too broad. The judge argued that this way there is "almost no limit" to what the committee could be seeking.

Trump earlier vowed to combat the documents' subpoenas with the executive privilege he allegedly still enjoys. Incumbent US President Joe Biden, in turn, refused to use his executive privilege to block the committee's request, even though one US media outlet suggested that it might have been in his own interests to do so.

The House 6 January committee was created by the Democrats in the hope of finding any evidence that would prove Donald Trump orchestrated the mob's attack on the Capitol. The Democrats claim that the then-president knowingly instigated the crowd to attack the building to thwart certification results of the 2020 election which he claims to this day had been "stolen" from him. Trump insists that the Democrats engaged in widespread voter fraud to assure Biden's victory but he has repeatedly failed to prove the existence of the plot or the fraud in courts.