Top Trump aides set to defy subpoenas in Capitol attack investigation
Source says Meadows, Bannon and others will move to undercut House select committee inquiry – under instructions from Trump
Hugo Lowell in Washington
Wed 6 Oct 2021 09.47 EDT
First published on Wed 6 Oct 2021 01.30 EDT
The former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and other top aides subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack are expected to defy orders for documents and testimony related to 6 January, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The move to defy the subpoenas would mark the first major investigative hurdle faced by the select committee and threatens to touch off an extended legal battle as the former president pushes some of his most senior aides to undercut the inquiry.
All four Trump aides targeted by the select committee – Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, strategist Steve Bannon and defense department aide Kash Patel – are expected to resist the orders because Trump is preparing to direct them to do so, the source said.
The select committee had issued the subpoenas under the threat of criminal prosecution in the event of non-compliance, warning that the penalty for defying a congressional subpoena would be far graver under the Biden administration than during the Trump presidency.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/06/trump-aides-capitol-attack-house-select-committee
