State Rep. Mark Finchem, Kelli Ward among those subpoenaed by House Jan. 6 committee over fake electors plot
PHOENIX (AP) - The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection subpoenaed six more individuals, including former Trump campaign members and state lawmakers, Tuesday over the efforts to falsely declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election in several swing states.
The panel is seeking testimony and records from the individuals who they say had knowledge of or participated in efforts to send false "alternate electors" in seven of the states President Joe Biden rightfully won.
"The Select Committee is seeking information about efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington and change the outcome of the 2020 election," Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee's Democratic chairman, said in a statement. "We're seeking records and testimony from former campaign officials and other individuals in various states who we believe have relevant information about the planning and implementation of those plans."
The individuals subpoenaed include Michael Roman and Gary Michael Brown, who served as directors for Trump's 2020 reelection campaign. The committee believes the two men reportedly promoted allegations of election fraud as well as encouraged state legislators to appoint false slates of electors. Pennsylvania State Rep. Douglas Mastriano and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, Laura Cox, were also subpoenaed.
Mastriano, a former Army officer currently seeking Pennsylvania's Republican gubernatorial nomination, was among Trump's most dedicated supporters during the 2020 campaign. He helped organize and host a four-hour state Senate Republican policy hearing regarding the election on Nov. 25 at a hotel conference room in Gettysburg. It was attended by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Trump addressed the hearing remotely, claiming during a roughly 11-minute call that the election had been rigged.
Arizonans among those subpoenaed
State Rep. Mark Finchem (Courtesy: Arizona State Legislature)
Two of the six individuals subpoenaed are from Arizona: State Rep. Mark Finchem and state Republican Party chair Kelli Ward.
Finchem and Ward's subpoenas came weeks after Arizonans Nancy Cottle and Loraine B. Pellegrino were subpoenaed by the same committee.
According to the official canvass of the November 2020 election by the Arizona Secretary of State's office, Cottle, Pellegrino and Ward would have served as official electors for Trump, had Trump won Arizona's electoral votes. However, since President Biden carried Arizona, electors for Biden were selected instead. Finchem was not an elector for any of the presidential candidates in the 2020 election.
Kelli Ward (From Archive)
Two weeks ago, Ward and her husband filed a lawsuit against the committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot seeking to block a subpoena of their phone records. Ward and Michael Ward were presidential electors who would have voted for Trump in the Electoral College had he won Arizona. Both signed a document falsely claiming they were Arizona's true electors, despite Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the state. No decisions have been issued in the case.
Messages requesting comment from Ward, Mastriano and Roman were not immediately returned.
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