The Jan. 6 Committee issued requests to three congressmen on Monday, focusing on what it described as a plot to “occupy the Capitol.”
Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Ronny Jackson (R-TX) all received the requests, which ask the members to cooperate with the panel on a voluntary basis.
In the letters to Biggs and Jackson, the panel repeatedly referred to efforts that it purportedly uncovered by the Oath Keepers and far-right provocateur Ali Alexander to “occupy the Capitol” on Jan. 6.
Filings in a federal criminal sedition case against the Oath Keepers revealed last month that some members of the group said on Jan. 6 that they were seeking to protect Jackson. The Committee includes those texts in its request to him, saying that it is “examining the coordination by various individuals and organizations on January 6th to ‘Occupy the Capitol,’ in an effort to obstruct Congress’s official proceeding to count electoral votes.”
The panel added in the request that Jackson had been present at the rally on the ellipse on the morning of Jan. 6.
“We would like to discuss how and when you returned from the Ellipse to the Capitol, and the contacts you had with participants in the rally or the subsequent march from the Ellipse to the Capitol,” the request reads.
Similarly, the request to Biggs centers an alleged plot to “Occupy the Capitol,” referencing a statement from Ali Alexander that Biggs helped develop the idea to stage protests on Jan. 6 along with two other members of Congress.
Alexander had said in a video unearthed after Jan. 6 that Biggs, alongs with Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Brooks, “schemed up putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting.”
Citing its own information, the panel says that Alexander was linked “to efforts to ‘Occupy the Capitol.'”
“We would like to understand precisely what you knew before the violence on January 6th about the purposes, planning, and expectations for the march on the Capitol,” the request to Biggs reads.
The request to Brooks does not directly mention any effort to “Occupy the Capitol.” Rather, it focuses on a statement that Brooks issued in March where he claimed to have advised Trump that it would be impossible and unconstitutional to “rescind” the 2020 election result.
“As you know, the Committee is examining a series of efforts by President Trump to abandon his solemn duty to support and defend our Constitution,” the request reads. “The exchange you have disclosed with the former President is directly relevant to the subject of our inquiry, and it appears to provide additional evidence of President Trump’s intent to restore himself to power through unlawful means.”
Brooks told reporters that Trump had asked him for help in “rescinding” the result after September 2021, and had done so “multiple times.” That announcement came after Trump moved to un-endorse Brooks for re-election.
