The “January 6” Special Committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, reported that he has issued about 20 subpoenas that will soon be made public. Asked if lawmakers were in the group, he said, “Not yet.” On Monday, the first six subpoenas were made public. They target the Trump group that met at the Willard Hotel in early January to deliberate over their legal options in challenging the counting of the Electoral College votes. Amongst the lawyers and campaign officials were John Eastman and Michael Flynn.
None of the six have anything to do with the only legal part of the investigation, which is to gather information pertinent to improving the Capitol’s safety, as stated in the enabling statement establishing the Special Committee. While the judicial and executive branches have broad subpoena powers (and safeguards), the Congress does not. The Supreme Court ruled a long time ago that subpoenas for ‘finding out what we want to know,’ for ‘informing the American people,’ etc., are not legal for the legislative branch. However, Benny Thompson, on announcing the six subpoenas, explicitly went against the legal history: “The Select Committee needs to know every detail about their efforts to overturn the election…as we work to get answers for the American people…”
