Justice Department subpoenas more than 30 people in Trump’s orbit in January 6 probe
CNN
By Gabby Orr, Kristen Holmes, Sara Murray, Kaitlan Collins, Evan Perez, Katelyn Polantz and Zachary Cohen, CNN
Top officials from Donald Trump‘s political fundraising and former campaign operation are among dozens of people in the former President’s orbit who received grand jury subpoenas in recent days — as the Justice Department intensifies its criminal investigation into January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Among them are former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and Sean Dollman, who worked for Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign as chief financial officer, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. Neither Stepien nor Dollman responded to CNN’s requests for comment.
Dan Scavino, Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, also recently received a subpoena, according to a source familiar with the matter. Scavino did not respond to a request for comment.
In total, more than 30 individuals with connections to Trump have received subpoenas in recent days, according to two sources familiar with the subpoena targets. The subpoenas seek documents and in some cases testimony before a grand jury in Washington, DC.
The flurry of subpoenas and other investigative activity came in the days just before the Justice Department began its standard preelection quiet period, a 60-day period before the midterm election during which the department generally seeks to avoid taking overt investigative action in politically sensitive probes to avoid the appearance of trying to affect the election.
Some of the subpoenas, including one reviewed by CNN, were broad in scope, seeking information on a range of issues, including the fake elector scheme, Trump’s primary fundraising and political vehicle, Save America PAC, the organizing of the Trump rally on January 6, and any communications with a broad list of people who worked to overturn the 2020 election results.
The subpoena reviewed by CNN seeks records related to compensation provided to or received from a list of people that included Trump lawyers and campaign staffers through January 20, 2021.
It also asks for communications with anyone in the Justice Department. As CNN has previously reported, investigators are examining the role of former DOJ lawyer Jeffrey Clark in pushing false election fraud claims on behalf of Trump.
The subpoenas seek communications with some of the same players previously identified in subpoenas served to fake electors in various states earlier this year, including former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Victoria Toensing and Boris Epshteyn, an adviser to Trump’s 2020 campaign, among others.
Some of the subpoenas also requested any information that recipients previously turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 US Capitol attack.
Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner who worked with Giuliani to find evidence of voter fraud in the weeks following the 2020 election, also received a subpoena for documents and testimony, his lawyer confirmed to CNN.
“I’ve seen plenty of subpoenas. This looks very different because there’s no direction to it,” said Kerik’s lawyer Timothy Parlatore. “Usually it’s very targeted.”
Brian Jack, the last White House political director under Trump, was subpoenaed as well, according to a source familiar. Jack did not respond to a request for comment.
The chair of Women for America First, Amy Kremer, which hosted the Trump rally outside the White House, said in a tweet over the weekend that her group, too, was sent a broad subpoena. Her attorney said the same publicly.
This story has been updated with additional details.
The-CNN-Wire
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