The Jan. 6 select committee on Monday requested testimony from three more House Republicans who are connected to the push by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election that ultimately metastasized into the Capitol riot.
Congressional investigators sent requests for voluntary interviews to Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) and Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). It’s not clear if the three lawmakers will comply, but there’s ample precedent for them to decline: Three other Republican lawmakers previously targeted by the panel for questioning all rejected the requests, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Jan. 6 committee members have expressed hesitancy to subpoena their congressional colleagues.
“The Select Committee has learned that several of our colleagues have information relevant to our investigation into the facts, circumstances, and causes of January 6th,” select panel chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in a statement. T
The two urged their fellow lawmakers to testify: “We urge our colleagues to join the hundreds of individuals who have shared information with the Select Committee to get to the bottom of what happened on January 6th.“
In its letter to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), the committee said multiple House Republican lawmakers sought presidential pardons “for activities taken in connection with President Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.” The committee cited former White House personnel — many of whom have spoken with its investigators in recent weeks — as the basis for that statement.
Biggs, a former chair of the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus, was named as “a potential participant in that effort,” according to the committee, which said its investigators want to know about the efforts to secure pardons. Trump ultimately did not pardon any Republican lawmakers in the wake of the Capitol attack.
The committee said it wanted to ask Jackson about potential contacts or knowledge of members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group. A recently revealed trove of text messages showed conversations among Oath Keepers about members of Congress, including Jackson.
“Dr. Ronnie [sic] Jackson — on the move. Needs protection. If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect,” one unidentified person wrote in a Jan. 6, 2021 text message. Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, replied: “Help with what” and “Give him my cell.”
Jackson has told POLITICO he had never heard of the Oath Keepers or Rhodes before the Jan. 6 attack.
The panel’s ask of Brooks comes as he revealed in a March statement that the former president had floated attempts to rescind the 2020 election and restore himself to the presidency. Brooks is running in Alabama’s crowded Senate GOP primary this year, but his showing in the polls hasn’t been strong and Trump rescinded an endorsement, accusing Brooks of going “woke.”
Thompson had previously expressed some doubt about calling the Alabamian, arguing he did not want to inject the panel into a political dispute between Trump and Brooks. Nonetheless, Brooks hasn’t ruled out testifying before the select panel, saying at the end of March he’d “take that under advisement” if the committee asked him.
Spokespeople for Biggs, Jackson and Brooks did not immediately return requests for comment.
Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.
