The House committee that’s investigating the January 6 insurrection is probing former President Donald Trump’s ties to extremists.
An extremist told the panel that his leader, Stewart Rhodes called Trump after members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group stormed the US Capitol in 2021.
According to court records, Rhodes’ appeal to speak directly to the Republican president was denied.
Charged with seditious conspiracy in the most serious cases the Justice Department has brought so far in the January 6 attack, top leaders and members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys may have had the ear of someone close to Trump.
The two names that have emerged under this criteria include Trump’s longtime friend Roger Stone and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Also read | US Capitol riot: Donald Trump lashes out at House committee, calls Barr ‘weak’
Trump instructed former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to speak with Stone and Flynn the day before the riot, according to Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Meadows.
Stone denied ever speaking to Meadows on the phone posts on the social media platform Telegram after the committee’s last televised hearing.
Both Stone and Flynn were pardoned by Trump after they were convicted by jurors or pleaded guilty in cases unrelated to January 6.
Invoking their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before the House committee, they both denied saying anything related to the riot.
(With inputs from agencies)
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