According to a report by New York Times, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued nearly 40 subpoenas in the past week and seized the phones of two top advisers to former President Donald Trump. This comes amid the ongoing investigation into Trump’s efforts to delegitimize the 2020 Presidential election and the deadly insurrection by his supporters on January 6, 2021, at the Capitol.
The people who have received the subpoenas this week range from some of the former president’s low-level aides to the senior advisers who were a part of his cabinet. This included Dan Scavino, Trump’s former social media director, the report said. Meanwhile, the phones of Boris Epshteyn (a longtime adviser) and Mike Roman (Trump’s campaign strategist) got seized as evidence following the Justice department’s issuance of search warrants.
Both Epshteyn and Roman were reportedly involved in a ‘fake electors effort’, where the plan was to submit slates of electors pledged to Trump living in swing states that Joe Biden had already won. These steps have been some of the “most aggressive” ones taken by the department so far amid the ongoing investigation, said the report.
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Reportedly, the subpoenas were issued to seek information on a failed bid by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The committee is also looking into the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, by Trump supporters, as a part of the investigation.
In a new line of inquiry, some of the subpoenas also sought information on the former president’s Save America Political Action Committee, a political fundraising group, the Times reported. This group has been the main channel by which Trump has continued to raise funds since he left office.
