The Capitol riot committee now has a clear roadmap for subpoenas: reporter

There's a clear roadmap for the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter explained on MSNBC on Tuesday.

MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace interviewed Carol Leonnig as Politico is reporting the select committee is poised to begin issuing subpoenas.

The process was explained by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, was the lead impeachment manager during Donald Trump's first trial, and is a member of the select committee.

"In some cases, we're making requests we think will be complied with," Schiff said. "In other cases, we're going straight to subpoenas where we think we're dealing with recalcitrant witnesses."

Wallace asked Leonnig about a tweet by Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official who served as chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security.

"I firmly believe Trump provoked the attack on the Capitol so he could declare martial law. For years he talked in private about the Insurrection Act & his 'magical powers' to deploy the military on to the streets. The January 6th select committee needs to investigate this," Taylor tweeted.

Leonnig explained that "the most central unanswered questions sort of circle around the drain that Miles Taylor is smartly focusing on. And that is, the days before January 6th."

"This is why, to me, subpoena power is so powerful and I wish as a journalist I had it," she explained. "We need to know about the conversations that Republican lawmakers, Donald Trump, and White House staff had with each other and with organizers of the protest. We need to know those conversations in detail -- their communications about what they plan to do."

"We already know from very good reporting that — unfortunately, not with a subpoena — that there were protest members who were warning the senior White House folks that there was going to be a likely storming/march on the capitol," she continued. "So, the White House should have been on alert."

Republicans in Congress are also under scrutiny.

"There was also a crucial meeting in late December between the president and other lawmakers in that special caucus that wanted to stop the certification of the vote. They were all sort of fist-bumping after that meeting where they were going to discuss how they would stop the steal, how they would stop the certification. We need to know what they discussed and we need to know what White House staff notes were taken," she explained.

The meeting was announced on Twitter by then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Reuters reported that the meeting was attended by Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mo Brooks (R-AL).

"We need to know the degree to which then President Trump was aware of the likelihood and potential for violence," Leonnig said.

Watch:

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