Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is reportedly among those individuals whose communications with President Donald Trump are set to be investigated by the House select committee on the 6 January attack.
A source familiar with the investigation told The Guardian that telecom companies had been instructed by the panel to preserve records of Mr Meadows’ communications in the hours leading up to the Capitol siege, making him the highest-ranking aide to be included among the investigation’s targets.
Mr Meadows, who was the last chief of staff to serve in the Trump White House and is viewed as fiercely loyal to the former president, attended the rally outside the White House at which his former boss urged his supporters to descend upon the Capitol. Defenders of the former president’s actions that day have claimed that Mr Trump only wished for crowds to remain outside of the building.
The Guardian’s source added that the select panel is likely to schedule another hearing before the end of September, though it remains firmly in the evidence-collecting stage of its work. Subpoenas from the committee could also face legal challenges in court.
Committee staff did not immediately return a request for comment from The Independent.
Alongside its requests for private data currently in the hands of telecom companies, the 6 January select panel has also requested official White House communications made by a slew of Mr Trump’s former top aides from the National Archives, as well as any communications between White House staff and other figures in Mr Trump’s orbit such as Steve Bannon and Roger Stone.
“The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is examining the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack,” said the panel’s chairman, Rep Bennie Thompson, last month while adding: “[T]his investigation seeks to evaluate threats to that process, identify lessons learned and recommend laws, policies, procedures, rules, or regulations necessary to protect our republic in the future.”
Republicans are so far trying unorthodox means to prevent evidence from reaching the committee; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened to exact revenge on telecom companies that complied with the Democrat-led investigation which he claimed was an abuse of Congress’s powers.
“[The Democrats’] attempts to strong-arm private companies to turn over individuals’ private data would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicians,” Mr McCarthy said in a statement late last month.
“If these companies comply with the Democrat order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States,” the House GOP leader added. “If companies still choose to violate federal law, a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law.”