The house committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots will look into Donald Trump's phone call at the Willard hotel in hopes to stop Joe Biden's certification of his election victory.
Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee, confirmed they will look into the phone call and said in an interview with The Guardian that they have considered ways to investigate Trump's demand that Biden not be certified as president.
Trump allegedly called lieutenants based at the Willard hotel in Washington, D.C. from the White House in the late hours on Jan. 5 and tried to stop Biden’s certification from taking place on Jan. 6, multiple sources told The Guardian.
The group included Trump's lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn and strategist Steve Bannon, per the sources. The group held multiple meetings at the Willard after the election, according to the Washington Post.
Trump told the lieutenants that then-Vice President Mike Pence was reluctant to follow the plan and try to stop Biden's certification. Sources say that Trump relayed that information to the group and tried to come up with a plan to stop Biden's certification from happening.
Thompson told The Guardian that the select committee is trying to get the contents of Trump's phone calls to the Willard and the White House's potential involvement. He added that the committee could not ask the National Archives for records about specific calls.
“If we get the information that we requested, those calls potentially will be reflected to the Willard hotel and whomever,” Thompson said.
The investigation has issued a handful of subpoenas, including Bannon and Eastman, and a subpoena for Giulaini could come in the future. It's not clear whether Giulaini might invoke attorney-client privilege as a way to escape cooperating with the investigation, but Congressman Jamie Raskin said protection does not confer broad immunity.
“The attorney-client privilege does not operate to shield participants in a crime from an investigation into a crime,” Raskin said. “If it did, then all you would have to do to rob a bank is bring a lawyer with you, and be asking for advice along the way.”
