Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, along with a handful of other Trump World figures who helped spread disinformation about the results of the 2020 election, have been subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee. 

In addition to Giuliani, the committee also sent the demands for records and a deposition to election fraud conspiracy peddlers Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell. Onetime Trump campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn was also on the receiving end of a subpoena late Tuesday. 

Giuliani, Ellis, Powell, and Epshteyn all “advanced unsupported theories of 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,” Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said in a statement accompanying the subpoenas. 

Robert Costello, an attorney for Giuliani —who also represents Steve Bannon—did not immediately return a request for comment to Daily Kos, but in an interview with CNN, Costello indicated late Tuesday that Giuliani will not cooperate. Like Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Giuliani has said he cannot cooperate because of executive privilege.  

Costello also claimed Tuesday that Giuliani had not yet been served but that the committee’s decision to announce the subpoena before service proved the investigation was “political theater.” 

Giuliani’s persistent promotion of Trump’s bunk election fraud claims and his abetting of a campaign to pressure state legislators and election officials to overturn the 2020 election results are the driving force behind the committee’s subpoena to the former New York City mayor. 

Giuliani “urged President Trump to direct the seizure of voting machines around the country after being told that the Department of Homeland Security had no lawful authority to do so,” the notice stated. 

Giuliani Subpoena Notice Jan. 6 by Daily Kos 

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The committee’s letters to Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell were similar, but the panel highlighted its interest in Ellis’ alleged circulation of two legal memos that supported the unconstitutional theory that former Vice President Mike Pence had the power to reject the certified electoral vote totals on Jan. 6. 

It has been reported that Ellis may have also been involved in the forging of electoral vote certifications that were submitted to the National Archives. 

Ellis responded to the notice on Twitter Wednesday morning, saying the committee is “just mad they can’t date me.”

As for Powell—the lawyer who once vowed to destroy Joe Biden’s presidency with proof of election fraud she amassed in a “Kraken”-sized report—the committee said it is specifically focused on her urging Trump that he should seize voting machines around the country “to find evidence that foreign adversaries had hacked those machines and altered the results of the election.” 

Powell’s Kraken report ended up being nearly 200 pages of gobbledygook and conspiracy theories that falsely suggested voting machines were jeopardized thanks to an election interference plot that originated with long-dead Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Powell also claimed Dominion voting machines in Michigan and Georgia were accessed by foreign agents and that the machines could not be audited.

The Dominion Voting Systems machines, however, do provide paper ballot backups to verify results. That was how Georgia completed its by-hand recount of the votes for the 2020 election. Dominion sued Giuliani last January for defamation, seeking over $1 billion in damages after the president’s attorney actively spread disinformation “to purposefully mislead voters,” the lawsuit states. 

Dominion also sued Powell last January over her claims that the company rigged the 2020 election. Both Giuliani and Powell tried to have the cases thrown out, but to no avail. Powell was, however, ordered by a court in Michigan to pay nearly $20,000 in legal fees after a federal judge there found she abused the judicial process when she launched claims of election fraud there. Given the massive damages associated with the Dominion suits, Powell and Giuliani could face bankruptcy. Giuliani’s license to practice law in New York was suspended last year over his promotion of bogus election fraud claims. 

Powell’s attorney said in a statement to CNN Wednesday morning that Powell would sit for deposition but still believes there was fraud in the 2020 election. 

Election fraud claims have been widely defeated in courts dotting the country.

Former Trump White House aide Epshteyn came under the committee’s scrutiny for his reported participation in meetings at Washington, D.C.’s Willard Hotel. Trump and other members of his inner circle reportedly met at the Willard multiple times in the runup to the insurrection at the Capitol and allegedly discussed ways to disrupt the 2020 election at length. 

According to Thompson, Epshteyn was not only at those meetings but was also part of a phone call with Trump on the morning of Jan. 6 where “options were discussed to delay the certification of election results in light of Vice President Pence’s unwillingness to deny or delay the certification.” 

All four members of Trump’s inner circle were asked to submit to their respective subpoenas by Feb. 1 and sit for deposition by Feb. 8. 

CNN recently reported that a source familiar with Bernie Kerik’s testimony to the committee—the former New York Police commissioner met with investigators behind closed doors last week—included Kerik’s full-throated defense of Giuliani’s belief in voter fraud. 

Kerik and Giuliani were reportedly close to Trump after the 2020 election, with Kerik allegedly arranging reservations for the Willard Hotel. 

Over 400 witnesses have been interviewed by the committee thus far. 

Along with the subpoenas, news also broke late Tuesday night that the committee has obtained the phone records from Trump’s son Eric Trump, as well as Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancee and Trump campaign fundraiser. 

Those details were first reported by CNN. 

The committee has pursued call logs for several individuals at the center of the former president’s push to subvert the election, but Trump and Guilfoyle are among those closest to Trump’s family circle. 

Though the records remitted to the committee will not include information about the content of texts or calls, it will show when calls were made, to whom, and for how long. More than 100 people have already phone records subpoenaed by the committee. Neither Guilfoyle nor Trump have been hit with a formal subpoena from investigators.