WASHINGTON -- The House panel investigating the Jan. 6,2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol is seeking information from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about his communications with senior advisers to then-President Donald Trump in the days leading up to the attack.
The committee's chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote in a letter sent to Gingrich on Thursday that the panel has obtained emails Gingrich exchanged with Trump's associates about television advertisements that were designed to cast doubt on the voting after it had already taken place.
Thompson wrote that Gingrich also appeared to be involved in Trump's scheme to appoint fake electors and emailed Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows about those efforts on the evening of Jan. 6, after Trump supporters had attacked the Capitol.
The request for Gingrich to cooperate voluntarily comes as the committee has been quietly continuing its investigation and preparing for a new set of hearings next month. If he cooperates, Gingrich would be one of more than 1,000 witnesses interviewed by the committee, including dozens of Trump allies.
The panel is expected to resume the hearings in September, ahead of the midterm elections.
In the letter to Gingrich, Thompson said the former Georgia lawmaker exchanged emails with top Trump aides in which he provided "detailed input" into the television advertisements that encouraged members of the public to contact state officials and pressure them to overturn Trump's loss to Joe Biden.
"To that end, these advertisements were intentionally aired in the days leading up to December 14, 2020, the day electors from each state met to cast their votes for president and vice president," Thompson wrote.
That came as Georgia election officials were facing intimidation and threats of violence.
In a Dec. 8, 2020, email to the White House aides, according to the committee, Gingrich wrote: "If we inform the American people in a way they find convincing and it arouses their anger, they will then bring pressure on legislators and governors."
The panel also cited a Nov. 12, 2020, email from Gingrich to Meadows and then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone: "The contested electors must meet on (D)ecember 14 and send in ballots to force contests which the house would have to settle."
On the evening of Jan. 6, at 10:42 p.m., Gingrich asked Meadows about letters from state legislators concerning "decertifying electors," the committee says.
ANOTHER LAWSUIT
Pennsylvania's Republican nominee for governor on Thursday sued the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, contesting its legal ability to force him to answer questions about it.
The lawsuit filed by Doug Mastriano contends that the committee lacks appointees of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and thus does not comply with House rules for conducting a compelled deposition of witnesses.
A properly appointed ranking minority member is necessary for a witness to have access to protections provided in House rules on deposition authority, the lawsuit says.
A committee spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Still, Mastriano's lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, has said his client is willing to voluntarily testify before the panel and has told the FBI that he didn't know about a planned attack or any coordination behind the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Mastriano, a state senator, helped organize efforts in Pennsylvania to submit alternate presidential electors beholden to Trump and was seen outside the Capitol as pro-Trump demonstrators attacked police.
Information for this article was contributed by Mary Clare Jalonick and staff members of The Associated Press.