Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline subpoenaed as part of Jan. 6 investigation
Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has been subpoenaed by the a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in connection with a call Kline helped organize between President Donald Trump and state legislators.
Kline has espoused election conspiracy theories and is the director of the Amistad Project, which was active in attempting to deliver a fake slate of pro-Trump electors to the Michigan legislature as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election.
The subpoena, issued Tuesday by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack, focuses on a meeting Kline organized a call between Trump and over 300 state legislators "in an "attempt to disseminate purported evidence of election fraud, encouraging them to sign onto a letter urging Vice President Mike Pence to delay the electoral certification on January 6, 2021."
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A Washington Examiner story, cited by the subpoena, also listed Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and Peter Navarro, a former top trade adviser for Trump, as participants on the call.
The document argues the meeting, while not directly related to the planning and execution of the Jan. 6 attack, comes as part of the committee's mandate to probe individuals who attempted to overturn the election results.
"The six individuals we've subpoenaed today all have knowledge related to those matters and will help the Select Committee better understand all the various strategies employed to potentially affect the outcome of the election," U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who chairs the House committee, said in a statement.
Kline has until March 15 to produce documents related to the investigation and was requested to appear for a deposition on March 22.
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Kline served as attorney general between 2003 and 2007 and his tenure was marred by controversy, which has continued since he left office. He is currently serving as an associate professor at the Liberty University School of Law.
That comes in addition to his work for the Amistad Project, which bills itself as conducting "the only ongoing litigation against the shadow government that interfered with the 2020 election."
His law license has been suspended in Kansas since 2013 for violating conduct rules during an investigation he launched into Johnson County abortion providers while serving as attorney general.
Andrew Bahl is a senior statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at abahl@gannett.com or by phone at 443-979-6100.