The House select committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol issued five more subpoenas Tuesday, targeting right-wing groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as well as their leaders.
In announcing the subpoenas, the panel noted that 34 people affiliated with the Proud Boys have so far been indicted by federal prosecutors in connection with the riot. The committee also said that the group’s members amplified former President Donald Trump’s “unsupported claim that the 2020 election was stolen and suggested the use of force against police officers and government officials.”
Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio — who is currently serving jail time for crimes including setting a stolen Black Lives Matter banner on fire last year — was among those summoned to provide documents and testimony, as was Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes.
“Prior to January 6th, Mr. Rhodes repeatedly suggested the Oath Keepers should engage in violence to ensure their preferred election outcome,” said the committee, which noted that 18 Oath Keepers had been indicted in connection with that day’s violence.
“On January 6th, Mr. Rhodes was allegedly in contact with several of the indicted Oath Keepers members before, during, and after the Capitol attack, including meeting some of them outside the Capitol,” the panel said.
The committee also subpoenaed the 1st Amendment Praetorian organization, which it said “provided security at multiple rallies leading up to January 6th that amplified the former President’s unsupported claim that the election was stolen.”
The 1st Amendment Praetorian chairman, Robert Patrick Lewis, is wanted by the committee after being listed as a speaker on the permit for a Jan. 5 rally on Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington. On the day of the riot, Lewis tweeted: “Today is the day that true battles begin.”
In a statement, Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said that lawmakers “believe the individuals and organizations we subpoenaed today have relevant information about how violence erupted at the Capitol and the preparation leading up to this violent attack.”
Tarrio was not in Washington on Jan. 6, as he had been ordered out of the area by a judge following his arrest two days earlier. However, the committee believes Tarrio may have been involved in any plans for violence by the Proud Boys.
Jason Lee Van Dyke, a lawyer previously affiliated with the Proud Boys and subpoenaed as part of the congressional investigation, told the Associated Press he would give the committee records that aren’t protected by attorney-client privilege, but emphasized that his affiliation with the Proud Boys International LLC ended in November 2018.
Van Dyke added that he didn’t have any records from November 2020 through the present that the subpoena seeks. “I can’t give them what I don’t have,” Van Dyke said.
Tuesday’s subpoenas come one day after the panel issued five additional subpoenas on Monday — with Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and former Trump senior adviser Roger Stone among those ordered to produce documents and testimony.
With Post wires