Prominent Donald Trump ally Rudy Giuliani has been subpoenaed by the congressional committee investigating the Capitol riot, along with three other members of the former US president's legal team.
In the days after the 2020 presidential election was won by Joe Biden, Mr Giuliani and the other lawyers filed bogus challenges to the result, fuelling the lie the race had been stolen from Mr Trump.
The committee is seeking records and deposition testimony from Mr Giuliani, a former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership after the September 11 attacks, over his promotion of election fraud claims on behalf of Mr Trump.
The panel is also seeking information about Mr Giuliani's reported efforts to persuade state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results.
The committee is continuing to widen its scope into Mr Trump's orbit, demanding information and testimony from Mr Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn.
"The four individuals we've subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former president about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes," Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel, said in a statement.
In a tweet, Mr Epshteyn called the committee illegitimate and its efforts part of a "witch-hunt" against Mr Trump and his supporters.
The others who were subpoenaed did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Giuliani was key to 'stolen election' rhetoric
Mr Trump's legal team sought to overturn the election results in US battleground states by filing lawsuits alleging widespread irregularities with ballots and claims by partisan poll watchers who said they could not see everything going on, in part because of precautions taken as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 50 lawsuits were filed, mostly in battleground states.
The lawsuits were soundly batted down in the courts, sometimes within days of filing.
But the legal challenges and the multiple press conferences held by Mr Giuliani and others helped galvanise Trump supporters behind the idea that the election had been stolen.
They made these claims even though Mr Trump's own attorney-general said there was no evidence of widespread fraud, and local officials said it had been the most secure election in history.
Four days after the November 2020, election, while most media outlets were calling the race for Mr Biden, Mr Giuliani held a press conference to announce his team planned to challenge the election results.
It was the beginning of a pressure campaign to allot electoral votes in battleground states where Mr Biden won over to Mr Trump instead.
Ms Ellis and Ms Powell also appeared with Giuliani at press conferences, pushing false claims of election fraud, and Mr Giuliani met with local elected officials to push false theories about corrupt voting systems.
Mr Giuliani also spoke at the rally in front of the White House that preceded the January 6 insurrection.
Like Mr Trump, he suggested the certification of Mr Biden's victory was an existential crisis for the country and used rhetoric that alluded to violence.
"Let's have trial by combat," he said.
"I'm willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation, on the fact that we're going to find criminality there."
ABC/AP
