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The news comes just days before the committee’s deadline for Scavino and three other close allies of the former president to comply with subpoenas requesting documents by October 7 and a deposition by October 15. October.
Scavino, Trump’s former White House deputy chief of staff, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. A source familiar with the situation joked that the committee should just tweet the subpoena to the former Trump aide since he has actively trolled the panel there in recent days.
Other Trump aides who have been subpoenaed include former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former adviser Steve Bannon and Kash Patel, a former chief of staff to the acting defense secretary of the time, Christopher Miller.
Patel acknowledged having received the summons from the committee. It appears the committee was successful in its attempts to serve subpoenas on Trump’s other two allies.
In its letter to Scavino, the committee points out that because of its closeness and long history of working with the former president, it can provide useful information about the conversations Trump had on January 5 about trying to convince members of Congress not to certify the election, the moves of the former president on Jan.6, and the broader White House communications strategy ahead of the Jan.6 rally.
The committee is also preparing for the possibility that some of Trump’s allies refuse to comply with subpoenas. Among the options considered by the panel to coerce their cooperation is the threat of holding them guilty of criminal contempt.
At the same time, Trump and those in his orbit who are likely seen as witnesses in the committee’s investigation have offered little indication that they have banded together around a broader legal strategy – than they are. acts of a combination of former president invoking executive privilege, resisting subpoenas in an effort to run out of time or plead 5.
CNN contacted a dozen lawyers who have represented or advised Trump in the past, but they either did not respond or were unwilling to be interviewed. A lawyer, John Eastman, would only say that if he represented Trump in this case, it would be a breach of solicitor-client privilege to say so.
Doug Collins, a former congressman, represented Trump on these issues before other committees this summer, but did not respond to repeated requests for comment from CNN.
Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger, one of two GOP members on the small panel, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto that the committee “will do everything in our power to get them to testify.”
“I mean, there are civil referrals, there are criminal referrals that can happen if they refuse, denying a congressional subpoena is a crime. We’re not here to try to blame it. from anyone. We want answers, “he said.
“The problem is, when you start to see people resist and people obscure, you have to look at this and ask yourself why are they doing this if they have nothing to hide? come and talk to us voluntarily. We ‘I’ll get to the bottom of it. We want to do it quickly, efficiently and thoroughly,’ he added.
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