Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Rudy Giuliani, other lawyers tied to false election claims

The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a new round of subpoenas; this time to Rudy Giuliani and other lawyers closely tied to former President Trump's false election claims.

Giuliani acted as a personal lawyer to former President Trump and was a key figure in a wave of disinformation spread after President Biden was elected.

In all, the panel issued four subpoenas, including to Sidney Powell, a controversial lawyer who pushed conspiracy theories tied to the Trump's last campaign, Jenna Ellis, another member of the Trump legal team that pushed false claims President Biden lost, and Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer who was a Trump 2020 campaign advisor.

"The four individuals we've subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes," Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement. "We expect these individuals to join the nearly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the Select Committee as the committee works to get answers for the American people about the violent attack on our democracy."

The panel said the four individuals subpoenaed participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of election results.

Already, the committee has issued more than 50 subpoenas, interviewed about 400 witnesses and obtained more than 50,000 pages of documents. [Copyright 2022 NPR]