The special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot is concentrating on whether he and his associates ripped off donors by boosting incorrect allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election, according to a report.
Jack Smith’s office has sent out a slew of subpoenas since the beginning of March to a number of Trump’s advisers, campaign aides, Republican political operatives and consultants involved in the 76-year-old’s failed re-election campaign, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Along with seeking fundraising documents, a number of former Trump aides have testified to a Washington grand jury, including former senior White House adviser Stephen Miller and former acting deputy secretary of homeland security Ken Cuccinelli, the newspaper said.
The fundraising part of Smith’s investigation is scrutinizing money raised between Nov. 3, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021, when Trump left the White House, to determine whether the campaign violated wire fraud laws that make it illegal to send false claims via email with the intent to defraud people.
The subpoenas targeted communications that will allow investigators to compare what Trump aides were telling each other about the veracity of the election and what they were repeating in the fundraising appeals to conservative donors.
The newspaper pointed out that a report from the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot concluded that the Trump campaign and the...
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