Under orders from former President Donald Trump, top aides will ignore subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot.
According to The Guardian, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, strategist Steve Bannon and defense department aide Kash Patel – are all expected to resist the orders because Trump is preparing to direct them to do so, a source familiar with the matter told the outlet.
Separately, the House select committee is unable to serve Scavino with the subpoena since they unable to find him, according to CNN.
In defying the subpoenas attorneys for Trump will argue that conversations the aides might have had with the former president about plans to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory should remain secret.
However, the source told the Guardian that Trump attorneys are not confident that this argument will hold up in court and instead view the strategy as a way to slow down the committee’s effort to investigate the deadly riot and provide a report on their finding before the 2022 midterms.
The select committee had issued the subpoenas under the threat of criminal prosecution in the event of non-compliance, warning that the penalty for defying a congressional subpoena would be far graver under the Biden administration than during the Trump presidency, The Guardian noted.
The four aides must supply requested documents by Oct. 7 and deliver a deposition before Oct. 15.
