At least two former officials on the Trump campaign have received a subpoena originating with the Justice Department investigations evidently now under the purview of Special Counsel Jack Smith, according to a report in The Washington Post.
The report doesn’t identify these individuals by name, although the publication included details about the wide-ranging demands for information that prosecutors made. Reportedly, the demands sought potential details in over two dozen categories. The list includes copies of communications related to the election technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, which as the Post pointed towards could show a contrast between private comments in Trump’s circles about these firms and what the then-president alongside top allies of his were saying publicly. Both Dominion and Smartmatic became subjects of baseless conspiracy theories about imaginary systematic fraud in the 2020 election. Trump personally claimed at one point that Dominion somehow “deleted” millions of his votes, and staff at that company have faced threats to their safety from apparent believers in his nonsense — including long after the 2020 election was over.
Also per the Post, the demands originating with the Smith investigation also seek communications related to Trump political and fundraising groups including the Make America Great Again PAC, the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee. Subpoena recipients were also told to provide information related to funding — and spending — at the organizations. Those demands accompany previously reported investigative interest in the Trump organization known as the Save America PAC, which benefited from some of the Trump campaign’s fundraising efforts shortly after the 2020 election. That organization also spent in support of a slew of candidates who Trump endorsed in the 2022 midterms. Out of seven high-profile beneficiaries, six lost. (The only exception was J.D. Vance, who ran for Senate in Ohio.)
Other noteworthy inclusions in the new demands include details related to the “Election Defense Fund” once cited by the House committee that investigated the Capitol riot. Some Trump donors were told of their money going towards such a fund, but it was never an official initiative, suggesting yet another avenue of fraud. CNN previously reported — before Smith joined the criminal investigation into attempts after the last presidential election to keep Trump in power — that federal prosecutors may have been examining the possibility of fraud inherent in those involved in the Trump operation raising money on knowingly incorrect allegations of a stolen election. The House panel, which is no longer operational, also spotlighted how information about the legitimacy of Biden’s win was made widely available in the then-president’s orbit, including to Trump himself.
Also among the long list of categories cited by the Post were the plot to assemble purported electoral votes for Trump in states that Biden won and the rally in D.C. that preceded the Capitol breach. Federal investigators sought information related to funding for the rally and potential coordination with groups outside the campaign itself.
