The House select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection has requested interviews with Republican Representatives Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, and Ronny Jackson of Texas as part of its probe into the worst attack on the Capitol since 1814.
In a statement, Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney said the panel has found “several of our colleagues” are in possession of “information relevant to our investigation into the facts, circumstances, and causes of January 6th”.
“As we work to provide answers to the American people about that day, we consider it a patriotic duty for all witnesses to cooperate,” they said. “We urge our colleagues to join the hundreds of individuals who have shared information with the Select Committee as we work to get to the bottom of what happened on January 6th”.
In a letter to Mr Biggs, a former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Mr Thompson and Ms Cheney said they have several lines of inquiry they would like to discuss with the Arizona congressman.
They said the panel is “aware” of Mr Biggs’ participation in “certain planning meetings” with White House officials and other allies of former president Donald Trump in the weeks leading up to the 6 January 2021 riot by a mob of Mr Trump’s supporters, who hoped to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral college victory.
In particular, Mr Thompson and Ms Cheney expressed interest in a 21 December 2020 meeting Mr Biggs “and several other” members of the Freedom Caucus attended.
“Testimony received by the Select Committee suggests that the discussion that day (and in subsequent meetings) addressed, among other things, a plan that Vice President Pence, as the presiding officer of the joint session on January 6th, would unilaterally refuse to count certain states’ certified electoral votes,” they wrote, adding that a California federal judge recently found it “more likely than not” that that plan — including Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure Mr Pence — “likely violated two provisions of federal criminal law”.
After noting that “Stop the Steal” organiser Ali Alexander boasted that he, Mr Biggs, and two other GOP House members originated the idea to bring protesters to Washington DC on the day Congress was set to certify Mr Biden’s 2020 election victory, Mr Thomspon and Ms Cheney said they would “like to understand precisely” what Mr Biggs “knew before the violence ... about the purposes, planning, and expectations” for the planned protests that day.
They also said the panel has information pertaining to Mr Biggs “efforts to persuade state legislators and officials that the 2020 election was stolen” as well as his efforts to “seek assistance from those individuals” in overturning the election in Mr Trump’s favour, including “certain communications” Mr Biggs had with ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, as well as efforts by House GOP members to seek pardons for Trump allies who helped Mr Trump in his push to overturn the election.
A similar letter to Mr Brooks, an Alabama Republican who spoke at the 6 January 2021 rally which proceeded the Capitol riot, outlines just one line of inquiry which Mr Thompson and Ms Cheney would like to discuss.
Specifically, they said the panel would like to discuss recent statements Mr Brooks made in which he said Mr Trump asked him to “rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency”.
The select committee’s questions for Mr Jackson stem from “certain relevant facts” that have been revealed in court filings made by the Department of Justice as part of a seditious conspiracy prosecution of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and several other members of the extremist group, as well as “ongoing criminal proceedings” related to the pro-Trump extremist gang known as the Proud Boys.
According to the letter sent to Mr Jackson by Mr Thompson and Ms Cheney, the panel would like to know why Mr Rhodes was sending encrypted messages to a fellow Oath Keeper during the riot which referenced a need to provide “protection” for the freshman Texas congressman, who Mr Rhodes said was in possession of “critical data”.
The text message exchanges referenced in the court filings “raise several specific questions” for Mr Jackson, including why Oath Keepers would have an interest in his location, why they would believe he had “critical data to protect,” why Mr Rhodes would direct his members to protect Mr Jackson, and who he spoke with by mobile phone that day.
“The Oath Keepers and Proud Boys had contacts with a number of other individuals with whom you may also have been in contact. If you had no contact with the individuals who sent these messages, who else would have informed them of your security needs or your location?” they continued, adding that they “would appreciate” Mr Jackson’s help to answer those questions.
Additionally, the panel’s chair and vice-chair wrote that they would like to record Mr Jackson’s “firsthand observations” of the riot from his vantage point on the House floor, where the ex-US Navy rear admiral helped barricade the chamber doors against the rioters.
Mr Thompson and Ms Cheney have asked each of the representatives to meet with the panel next week, and offered to arrange travel for committee members if any of them would prefer to hold the interviews in their home districts.
