Former Trump aide Dan Scavino served January 6 committee subpoena after struggle to locate him
By Jim Acosta and Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Former Trump aide Dan Scavino has been served a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, bringing an end to the panel’s struggle to physically locate him.
A process server brought the subpoena to former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, the source said. While Scavino was home in New York at the time, he asked a staff member to accept the subpoena on his behalf.
In its letter to Scavino, the committee outlined that, because of his close proximity and long history of working with the former President, he can provide useful information regarding conversations Trump had on January 5 about trying to convince members of Congress to not certify the election, the former President’s movements on January 6, and the broader communication strategy the White House had in the lead up to the January 6 rally.
The source said that Scavino would review the subpoena with his attorneys early next week to determine next steps.
Scavino was among the former Trump aides that had been sent a letter from Trump’s attorney this week advising that he intended to defend what he viewed as an infringement of executive privilege.
In the letter viewed by CNN, an attorney for Trump advised them to “where appropriate, invoke any immunities and privileges” and not provide documents or testimony.
Thursday had marked a deadline for four former Trump officials under subpoena to produce materials to the committee.
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said in a statement that former Trump officials Mark Meadows and Kash Patel are “so far engaging” with the panel.
The statement did not mention Scavino.
An attorney for Steve Bannon said in an email obtained by CNN that he will not cooperate, citing Trump’s claim of executive privilege. Bannon’s lawyer told the committee that “the executive privileges belong to President Trump” and “we must accept his direction and honor his invocation of executive privilege.”
The claim that Bannon could be covered by the former President’s privilege is unusual because Bannon was not working for the federal government during the period surrounding the January 6 insurrection.
In their statement, Thompson and Cheney make clear that the committee will act “swiftly” against those who refuse to comply with a lawful subpoena, including by seeking to hold them in criminal contempt, as they try to squash concerns that the committee will not act forcefully enough.
The White House on Friday informed the National Archives that it would not assert executive privilege on an initial batch of documents related to the January 6 violence at the US Capitol, paving the way for the Archives to share documents with the House committee.
“The President has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not warranted for the first set of documents from the Trump White House that have been provided to us by the National Archives,” press secretary Jen Psaki said of President Joe Biden’s decision.
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CNN’s Sara Murray, Katelyn Polantz and Ryan Nobles contributed to this report.
