Jan. 6 panel subpoenas 6 more in fake GOP electors scheme

The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed six individuals over efforts to falsely declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election in several swing states

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The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection subpoenaed six more individuals, including former Trump campaign members and state lawmakers, Tuesday over the efforts to falsely declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election in several swing states.

The panel is seeking testimony and records from the individuals who they say had knowledge of or participated in efforts to send false “alternate electors” in seven of the states President Joe Biden rightfully won.

“The Select Committee is seeking information about efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington and change the outcome of the 2020 election," Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said in a statement. “We’re seeking records and testimony from former campaign officials and other individuals in various states who we believe have relevant information about the planning and implementation of those plans.”

The individuals subpoenaed include Michael Roman and Gary Michael Brown, who served as directors for Trump's 2020 reelection campaign. The committee believes the two men reportedly promoted allegations of election fraud as well as encouraged state legislators to appoint false slates of electors.

The other four individuals are Pennsylvania State Rep. Douglas Mastriano, Laura Cox, the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, Arizona State Rep. Mar Finchem and Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward.

Messages requesting comment from Ward, Mastriano and Roman were not immediately returned.

Two weeks ago, Ward and her husband filed a lawsuit against the committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot seeking to block a subpoena of their phone records. Ward and Michael Ward were presidential electors who would have voted for Trump in the Electoral College had he won Arizona. Both signed a document falsely claiming they were Arizona’s true electors, despite Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the state. No decisions have been issued in the case.

Mastriano, a former Army officer currently seeking Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial nomination, was among Trump’s most dedicated supporters during the 2020 campaign. He helped organize and host a four-hour state Senate Republican policy hearing regarding the election on Nov. 25 at a hotel conference room in Gettysburg. It was attended by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Trump addressed the hearing remotely, claiming during a roughly 11-minute call that the election had been rigged.

The latest subpoenas come more than a month after the committee issued subpoenas to 14 people over the submission of false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

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Associated Press writers Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report.