The House January 6 committee's investigation of Trump

The committee also pursued former aides who defied it. Its subpoenas reached deep into Trump's circle. In October 2021 it subpoenaed two leaders of the "Stop the Steal" group and a lawyer who aided Trump, and served former aide Dan Scavino after struggling to find him.^[13][14][15] Cheney said Bannon's refusal to cooperate suggested Trump had been personally involved in planning January 6.^[16] In November the committee subpoenaed 10 more former Trump aides, including Stephen Miller, Kayleigh McEnany, Michael Flynn and John Eastman,^[17][18][19] and in December six people who helped plan Trump's rallies.^[20] In 2022 it subpoenaed a former White House official who helped draft Trump's January 6 speech, fake Trump electors in seven states and six more people in that scheme, and White House counsel Pat Cipollone.^{[21][22][23][24]} The Justice Department told the panel in June 2022 that it would not charge Mark Meadows or Dan Scavino, whom the committee had found in contempt.^[25] The former adviser Peter Navarro was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury over his refusal to comply with the committee's subpoena.^[26] The prosecution of Steve Bannon is covered in a separate arc.

Its public hearings focused on Trump's pressure on the Justice Department. At its fifth hearing in June 2022, former Justice Department leaders testified that Trump had pressed the department to pursue his false claims of election fraud.^[27][28] Notes by a former acting deputy attorney general recorded him telling officials to "just say that the election was corrupt."^[27][28] In July, Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel's vice chair, said it could make several criminal referrals, including of Trump.^[29] She had said in June that the country was "confronting a domestic threat" in Trump,^[30] and at a July hearing she said he was responsible for his actions and was not "an impressionable child."^[31] She also said the committee could subpoena Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas.^[32] She said Trump had tried to contact a witness, which the committee reported to the Justice Department.^[33] In August she warned against a decision not to prosecute Trump if the facts and the evidence supported charges.^[34]

The committee ended its work with a criminal referral. In September 2022, a former White House aide testified to the committee that Rep. Matt Gaetz had sought a pardon from Trump.^[35] In October the committee voted to subpoena Trump himself and then issued the subpoena, demanding his testimony.^[36][37] Trump was reported to want to testify,^[38] but he sued in November to avoid the subpoena,^[39] and the committee withdrew it at the end of December as its work ended.^[40] In December the committee's chairman said it would make criminal referrals,^[41] and on December 19 it voted to refer Trump to the Justice Department on charges of insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States, urging that he be prosecuted.^[3][42]