- The committee investigating the Capitol riot issued subpoenas to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
- Letters from the House select committee were addressed to the leaders of both groups.
- At least 34 people affiliated with the Proud Boys have been charged in connection to the January 6 riot.
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot issued subpoenas Tuesday to several right-wing extremists groups connected to the siege. Lawmakers subpoenaed the Proud Boys its leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio; the Oath Keepers and its leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes; and the 1st Amendment Praetorian and its leader Robert Patrick Lewis.
According to the letters, which were viewed by Insider, Rhodes was subpoenaed to sit for a December 14 deposition, Tarrio for December 15, and Lewis for December 16.
"The select committee is seeking information from individuals and organizations reportedly involved with planning the attack, with the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 or with efforts to overturn the results of the election," Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the select committee, said in a statement Tuesday. "We believe the individuals and organizations we subpoenaed today have relevant information about how violence erupted at the Capitol and the preparation leading up to this violent attack."
The subpoenas call for the all parties to submit relevant documents by December 7.
Thompson said members of the Proud Boys called for violence leading up to the deadly January 6 insurrection, adding that the Justice Department has indicted at least 34 people affiliated with the group in connection to the riot. In all, more than 700 people have been charged since the siege.
Tarrio is currently serving a five-month sentence in a Washington, DC, detention facility for burning a Black Lives Matter flag after the November presidential election. He requested an early release last week, citing inhumane living conditions.
Lawmakers on the select committee have made clear that they intend to secure the cooperation of witnesses who are subpoenaed even if it means taking extraordinary steps. Last month, the committee made a criminal contempt referral for Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist under President Donald Trump, after he refused to sit for a deposition or provide relevant documents to the panel.
The Justice Department subsequently charged Bannon with two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, to which Bannon pleaded not guilty earlier this month. The committee has also threatened former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows with a contempt referral based on his refusal to cooperate with the inquiry.
Lawyers for both Bannon and Meadows have said that their clients will not sit for depositions until a court resolves issues of executive privilege involving Trump. They were referring to Trump's assertion of privilege over a slew of documents the Jan. 6 committee pertaining to Trump's actions before, during, and immediately after the deadly siege.
Earlier this month a federal judge rejected Trump's privilege claims, saying that while the former president has the right to assert privilege, President Joe Biden is not required to honor it.