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Near the end of the Jan. 6 Committee’s final meeting before the midterm elections, the panel took an historic, unanimous vote on Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding he testify about his failed plot to stay in power after losing the 2020 election.
The subpoena marks the first time a congressional panel has directly targeted the nation’s ex-Commander-in-Chief, and it underscores how high the stakes are in the ongoing investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“He led an effort to upend American democracy that directly resulted in the violence of January 6th. He tried to take away the voice of American people. He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened… we want to hear from him,” said Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS).
“This is a question of accountability to the American people. He is required to answer for his actions, he is required to answer for those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line,” he added, noting that this was as “serious and extraordinary action.”
Neither Trump’s office nor his top lawyers on these matters responded to a request for comment on Thursday.
Should Trump ignore the subpoena, he faces the same threat of a criminal prosecution for “contempt of Congress” that led to a federal conviction against another MAGA ally: former senior White House adviser Stephen Bannon.
However, consequences for witnesses refusing to testify have been applied unequally. For example, even though Congress held former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt, the Department of Justice appears uninterested in actually pursuing charges over the House vote. Trump ignoring a subpoena could result in charges, but it also could result in nothing.
For months, the Committee has publicly presented evidence that Trump engaged in frivolous lawsuits to overturn the election, intimidated state officials to erase Joe Biden’s lead in the 2020 election, ignored evidence that he lost fairly, and knew his loyal mob in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 was armed and seething when he sent them to march on the Capitol building where they attacked Congress. But throughout the panel’s nine public hearings, one voice has been conspicuously silent: Trump himself.
The closest the panel has come was when it played outtakes from Trump’s video addresses during and after the attack on the Capitol, revealing a President who simply refused to concede and still wanted to rile up his enraged followers.
The decision to subpoena the former President—who will likely ignore it—is an aggressive tactic that could go two very different ways. If the president refuses to show up and the full Congress refers the matter to the Department of Justice, prosecutors could refuse to take up the case and embolden resistant witnesses. Otherwise, Trump faces a prosecution similar to the year-long case that will end next week when a federal judge sentences Bannon.
Thursday’s subpoena came from one of the few Republicans who is furthest removed from the party’s loyalty to Trump’s MAGA movement: Co-Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY).
“We must seek the testimony—under oath—of January 6th’s central player,” she said. “At some point the Department of Justice may well unearth facts these witnesses are concealing. But our duty today is to our country, to our children, and to our Constitution. We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set these events in motion.”
#us politics#news#donald trump#house select committee#capitol riot#capitol riot investigation#2022#rep. liz cheney#rep. bennie thompson#mark meadows#steve bannon#subpoenas#Congressional subpoena#contempt of congress#2020 election#the daily beast
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Speechiflied
#political satire#editorial cartoons#politics#political cartoon#mike pence#pence#house flies#jack smith#subpoenas#subpoena#jan 6 capitol riot investigation#jan 6 2021#us politics#insurrection
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SO MUCH LOSING!
When Donald Trump isn’t busy dining with Nazis or plotting to terminate the US Constitution, he gets to watch his legal team suffer setbacks.
In recent months, former President Donald Trump and his allies have suffered a string of defeats in court as they’ve tried to resist or impede criminal investigations into his conduct.
The latest example was Trump’s unsuccessful bid to block testimony from his former White House lawyers before the federal grand jury investigating 2020 election subversion. The attorneys, Pat Cipollone and Pat Philbin, appeared before the DC-based grand jury on Friday.
The night before, a federal appeals court tossed out the special master review that was holding up parts of the criminal probe into government documents that were taken from his White House to Mar-a-Lago.
The Trump-world losing streak reflects the deference that courts tend to give to criminal investigations – particularly when the probes that have not yet brought charges. Courts have shown far less tolerance for legal delay tactics in cases concerning criminal probes.
His setbacks are at both the state and federal level.
Many of the disputes over the subpoenas are playing out in state courts across the country based on where the witnesses in question now reside. Those courts often made the determination that the witnesses are “necessary and material” to the investigation, while pointing to the approvals the subpoenas got from the judge in Georgia who is supervising the Fulton County grand jury.
Trump has tried to claim that being a former president gives him special standing. The courts aren’t buying that.
As if Trump were not in enough trouble, a New York law just went into effect which permits adult victims of previous sexual abuse to sue their attackers.
E. Jean Carroll sues Trump for battery and defamation as lookback window for adult sex abuse survivors’ suits opens in New York
With this sort of luck, Trump may be wondering if his only way out is to defect to Russia or North Korea.
#donald trump#legal problems#subpoenas#lawsuits#so much losing#grand juries#criminal probes#investigations#e. jean carroll#sex abuse#federal appeals court#lock him up!
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Photo of TFG and his associates "golfing" today. Note the distinct lack of golf clubs.
This is what mobsters who are terrified of wire taps look like.
[They dropped 40 subpoenas this week to " Trump associates". Coincidence? Yeah, I don't think so either. Is treason still a Capitol offense?]
(Tim McKenny)
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House panel subpoenas Fauci adviser for private emails on COVID origins
A House panel investigating the COVID-19 pandemic has subpoenaed a former senior adviser to ex-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci for emails he exchanged on a private account about the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 — in an apparent violation of federal record-keeping laws.
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic announced the subpoena of Dr.…
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Key considerations in US government investigations: overlooked evidence, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and grand jury secrecy. Grand juries are often thought of as being important for the presentation of evidence in criminal proceedings, but they also have an important role in ensuring the government can investigate potential criminal conduct. Grand juries can issue subpoenas for documents and witnesses, and they also have the ability to issue indictments. This week's Global Investigations Review looks at three key considerations in US government investigations: overlooked evidence, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and grand jury secrecy.
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UPDATE — May 17, 2023 at 1:39 p.m. ET: One day after the publication of this story, a federal judge authorized the Virgin Islands government’s request to serve Elon Musk through a registered agent at Tesla in connection with their Epstein investigation.
The Virgin Islands government sought a federal judge’s help serving Elon Musk with a subpoena on Jeffrey Epstein’s suspected attempts to make him a JPMorgan Chase client.
“Upon information and belief, Elon Musk—the CEO of Tesla, Inc., among other companies—is a high-net-worth individual who Epstein may have referred or attempted to refer to JPMorgan,” the government’s attorney Linda Singer wrote in a four-page filing.
Musk is just one of the billionaires and CEOs drawn into litigation over Epstein’s financial relationship with JPMorgan, the deceased pedophile’s bank of choice between 1998 and 2013. In 2008, Epstein became a convicted sex offender after pleading guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor. JPMorgan continued to count Epstein as a client five years after that conviction.
The Virgin Islands claims that JPMorgan knew at the highest levels that Epstein had been running a sex trafficking scheme and knowingly profited from it. The government’s subpoenas — which have hit CEO Jamie Dimon, Alphabet co-founder Larry Page, ex-L Brands CEO Les Wexner, and others — seek to ascertain what high-profile clients Epstein brought or promised to the megabank.
Musk’s subpoena was issued on April 28, 2023, and he hasn’t made service easy on the Virgin Islands attorney general.
“The Government made good-faith attempts to obtain an address for Mr. Musk, including hiring an investigative firm to search public records databases for possible addresses,” the Virgin Islands filing states. “One address found was that of Mr. Musk’s counsel who has waived service on Mr. Musk’s behalf in several recent federal cases filed within the last year. The Government contacted Mr. Musk’s counsel via email to ask if he would be authorized to accept service on Mr. Musk’s behalf in this matter but did not receive a response confirming or denying his authority.”
“In addition, the Government’s process server attempted service at the business address for Tesla, Inc. identified by the investigative firm, but was unable to confirm whether or not Mr. Musk was at the location and available for service and was directed by security to contact the company’s registered agent and/or legal department,” the filing continues.
With the discovery deadline looming at the end of the month, the Virgin Islands wants Senior U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff to allow them to serve Musk via Tesla, as his registered agent. Rakoff gave any party wishing to file an objection a deadline of 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
Musk, who as Twitter’s owner refers to himself as the “chief twit,” called the subpoena “idiotic” on his platform.
“That cretin never advised me on anything whatsoever,” Musk said. “The notion that I would need or listen to financial advice from a dumb crook is absurd.”
Musk added more about his acrimonious fallout with JPMorgan.
“JPM let Tesla down ten years ago, despite having Tesla’s global commercial banking business, which we then withdrew,” Musk said. “I have never forgiven them.”
JPMorgan also severed ties with Epstein exactly 10 years ago. Musk vigorously denies ties to Epstein and the deceased predator’s now-convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell, but public evidence suggests at least fleeting associations with the pair. In 2014, Musk was famously photographed with Maxwell at a Vanity Fair party, where he claims that she “photobombed” him.
In 2011, Musk and Epstein both attended an annual event known as the “billionaires’ dinner,” which also counted Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Google co-founder Sergey Brin as guests.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
Law&Crime's managing editor Adam Klasfeld has spent more than a decade on the legal beat. Previously a reporter for Courthouse News, he has appeared as a guest on NewsNation, NBC, MSNBC, CBS's "Inside Edition," BBC, NPR, PBS, Sky News, and other networks. His reporting on the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell was featured on the Starz and Channel 4 documentary "Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?" He is the host of Law&Crime podcast "Objections: with Adam Klasfeld."
#Elon Musk ducks subpoena on Jeffrey Epstein ties#while raging at ‘idiotic’ request on Twitter#jeffery epstein#elon musk#subpoenas
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At least two dozen people – from Mar-a-Lago resort staff to members of Donald Trump’s inner circle at the Florida estate – have been subpoenaed to testify to a federal grand jury that’s investigating the former president’s handling of classified documents, multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.
On Thursday, Trump’s communications aide Margo Martin, who worked in the White House and then moved with Trump to Florida, appeared before the grand jury in Washington, DC. One of special counsel Jack Smith’s senior-most prosecutors was involved in the interview.
Martin, who is among a small group of former White House advisers who have remained employed by Trump after he left office, declined to answer any questions when approached by a CNN reporter.
Smith has sought testimony from a range of people close to Trump – from his own attorneys who represent him in the matter to staffers who work on the grounds of Mar-a-Lago, including a housekeeper and restaurant servers, sources said.
The staffers are of interest to investigators because of what they may have seen or heard while on their daily duties around the estate, including whether they saw boxes or documents in Trump’s office suite or elsewhere.
“They’re casting an extremely wide net – anyone and everyone who might have seen something,” said one source familiar with the Justice Department’s efforts.
For instance, federal investigators have talked to a Mar-a-Lago staff member seen on security camera footage moving boxes from a storage room with Trump aide Walt Nauta, who has already spoken with investigators.
Many of the Mar-a-Lago staffers are being represented by counsel paid for by Trump entities, according to sources and federal elections records.
The Justice Department has been investigating potential mishandling of national security records and possible obstruction for about a year. FBI agents recovered more than 100 classified documents during a search of Mar-a-Lago last summer. Since then, Trump’s legal team has turned over additional classified material.
The federal probe previously subpoenaed top Trump advisers, such as former White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino and former Trump adviser and Pentagon official Kash Patel.
Meanwhile, Smith continues to pursue Trump defense lawyer Evan Corcoran. In an earlier appearance before the grand jury, Corcoran declined to answer questions about his conversations with Trump related to the classified documents, citing attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors are asking a judge to find that he must answer because the conversations may have been part of advancing a crime or fraud.
A ruling is expected from the DC District Court on Corcoran as early as this week.
#us politics#news#cnn#cnn politics#donald trump#republicans#conservatives#gop#2023#fbi#department of justice#jack smith#mar a largo#fbi raid#classified documents probe#special counsel#Mar-a-Lago staff#subpoenas#federal grand jury#Margo Martin#Walt Nauta#Dan Scavino#Kash Patel#Evan Corcoran#DC District Court
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You can imagine the Republican hysteria if Hillary had refused to testify at the Benghazi hearings. 🤯
Lindsey Graham served in the Air Force in the judge advocate general’s office as a military prosecutor. He practiced law in the private sector after leaving the Air Force. It’s not like he’s totally ignorant about the law.
Senator Graham says he will not cooperate with Georgia Trump election probe
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Trump sues January 6 committee seeking to block subpoena for his testimony and documents | CNN Politics
Trump sues January 6 committee seeking to block subpoena for his testimony and documents | CNN Politics
CNN
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Former President Donald Trump has sued the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, as a way to challenge its subpoena for documents and his testimony, according to filings in a federal court in Florida.
Trump is challenging both the legitimacy of the committee – which multiple courts have upheld – and is claiming he should be immune from testimony about the time he was…
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#civil disobedience#conflicts and war#coups and attempted coups#domestic terrorism#Donald Trump#Elections and campaigns#Government and public administration#Government bodies and offices#government organizations - us#International relations and national security#Law and legal system#Lawsuits and claims#national security#political figures - us#Politics#Protests and demonstrations#Riots#societal issues#Society#subpoenas#Terrorism#Terrorism and counter-terrorism#testimony#Trial and procedure#Unrest#us capitol insurrection#US congress#us federal government#US House of Representatives#Violence in society
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Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, shows startling new video
Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, shows startling new video
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video and described his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to his supporters’ fierce assault on the U.S. Capitol.
With alarming messages from the U.S. Secret Service warning of violence and vivid…
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#AP Top News#Capitol siege#Congress#Donald Trump#Election 2020#Elections#Government and politics#Nancy Pelosi#Politics#Presidential elections#Subpoenas#U.S. Secret Service
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