The bipartisan House Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection of January 6 has already issued subpoenas to several high-profile Trump officials. After initially being unable to track down one Trump aide, the committee was finally able to serve the aide with their subpoena.
Politico reported last week that the House Committee was finally able to serve former White House deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino with his subpoena. This follows previous reports that the panel has been unable to find Scavino to serve him with the subpoena when it was first announced on September 23. Along with Scavino, Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, and Kash Patel have also been served with subpoenas.
The report cited people familiar with the matter, saying that Scavino’s subpoena was served to him in New York. One of the sources said that this was the first service attempt as Scavino had been out in public since the issuance of the subpoenas.
The subpoenas by the committee set Friday last week as the deadline to respond. When the deadline was breached, the committee issued a statement that did not mention Scavino. Days prior, CNN reported that the panel had been unable to serve Scavino with the subpoena until Friday.
The House Committee has already threatened the associates with criminal referrals to the DOJ should they defy the subpoena, having already anticipated that they will do so. Bannon has refused to comply, citing that former president Donald Trump could invoke executive privilege to keep him from testifying before the panel. However, the Biden administration waived the privilege.
Over the weekend, CNN anchor Dana Bash pressed an executive from Facebook regarding the accusations that the social media platform also contributed to the promotion of the Capitol insurrection. This follows the allegations made against the platform by whistleblower Frances Haugen last week, exposing Facebook’s business practices and prioritizing profits over the safety of its users.
Bash pressed Facebook’s vice president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, on the accusations, which also touched on the link between the social media platform and the Capitol riots. Bash mentioned that Haugen is also set to meet with the House Committee and noted Clegg’s answer that only those who broke the law are to blame for the insurrection. The CNN host then went on to ask if Clegg thinks the platform had a hand in amplifying users who were calling for an insurrection.
Clegg would not say directly if the platform had a hand in contributing to the spread of pro-insurrection users’ calls.