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Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Alex Jones, Roger Stone and other Trump allies

The committee's new batch of subpoenas is in connection with a rally held near the Capitol shortly before a pro-Trump mob stormed the building.
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The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol issued subpoenas Monday to high-profile allies of former President Donald Trump, including Roger Stone and Alex Jones.

The committee is looking at Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump, and Jones, a conspiracy theorist who claimed that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut in 2012 was a "giant hoax," in connection with a rally near the Capitol shortly before a pro-Trump mob stormed the building in early January.

The committee is demanding records and testimony from three other people, as well: Dustin Stockton, who the committee said assisted in organizing a series of rallies after the November election; Jennifer Lawrence, who was also involved in organizing rallies, including the one that preceded the Capitol riot, according to the panel; and Taylor Budowich, who organized an advertising campaign to encourage attendance at the Jan. 6 rally, the panel said.

"We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress," the committee's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement Monday. "We believe the witnesses we subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to cooperate fully with our effort to get answers for the American people about the violence of January 6th."

The committee said Monday that Stone was in Washington on Jan. 5 and 6 to "lead a march to the Capitol" and that he "promoted his attendance at the rallies and solicited support to pay for security."

In a statement following the committee's announcement, Stone said: "I have said time and time again that I had no advance knowledge of the events that took place at the Capitol on that day. Any statement, claim, insinuation, or report alleging, or even implying, that I had any involvement in or knowledge, whether advance or contemporaneous, about the commission of any unlawful acts by any person or group in or around the U.S. Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, is categorically false.

"After the subpoena is served and after my counsel reviews the requests, I will make the determination of how I will proceed," he added.

Norman Pattis, an attorney for Jones, said his client has yet decide on his "next steps."

"The First Amendment guarantees the right of assembly and the right to petition for redress of grievances," Pattis said in a statement. "Congress's attempt to chill ordinary Americans in the exercise of these rights is terrifying. We will be in touch with Committee staff to determine what our next steps will be."

Stockton and Lawrence, his girlfriend, issued a joint statement Monday saying they "have been expecting" the subpoenas.

"In the many months since January 6th we have granted many reporters and outlets extensive on-the-record interviews because we are committed to getting to the truth about what happened," they said. "We remain committed to that transparency and pray for the opportunity to share our experiences to the public without the taint of misinformation that has become customary."

Budowich did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The House committee has issued batches of subpoenas in recent weeks to dozens of Trump administration officials and allies of the former president.

Ranking member Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said this month that the panel has interviewed more than 150 people and that it is speaking to "a whole range of people connected to the events, connected to understanding what happens."

The committee has shown that it is willing to pursue contempt charges against any subpoenaed witnesses who refuse to comply. A federal grand jury this month indicted former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who is charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions from the committee.

Trump, meanwhile, has tried to block access to his White House records and encouraged allies not to comply with the congressional investigation. A federal appeals court this month granted Trump's request to temporarily block the National Archives from turning over his White House records.

The subpoenas for Jones and Stone follow courtroom battles in recent years.

Stone was sentenced to more than three years in prison in February 2020 for making false statements, obstruction and witness tampering as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Trump initially commuted his sentence and offered him a full pardon shortly before he left office.

Jones last week was found liable for damages in lawsuits brought by parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.