Trump aides set to dodge January 6 subpoenas – including one Capitol riot panel can’t even find

Several former top aides in the Trump administration are reportedly preparing to reject subpoenas issued by the House select committee investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

The handful of aides reportedly set to defy the committee include Dan Scavino, the president’s former social media manager, who according to CNN has been dodging the panel’s repeated attempts to physically serve him with a subpoena.

Other aides have already received subpoenas, including Kash Patel, a White House aide who was made chief of staff to the acting defence secretary after Mark Esper was fired by former President Donald Trump in the days following his 2020 defeat; and Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff.

Both Mr Meadows, Mr Patel, and others are set to fight the committee’s requests for information, a source familiar with their intentions told The Guardian; House members on the panel have said that they plan to investigate all available communications between members of Mr Trump’s inner circle in the hours and days leading up to the rally outside of the White House on 6 January.

Mr Scavino has eluded the committee’s efforts to deliver the subpoena entirely, according to CNN, even as he faces a deadline set by the committee on Thursday to comply.

One Republican member of the panel, Rep Adam Kinzinger, floated the possibility of criminal action against members of Mr Trump’s inner circle if they do not follow the committee’s instructions for testimony and the production of records.

"I mean, there is civil, there is criminal referrals that can happen if they refuse, refusing a subpoena from Congress is a crime. We aren't out to try to hang this around anybody's neck. We want answers," Mr Kinzinger told CNN in an interview.

"The problem is when you start seeing people resist, and people obfuscate, you have to look at that and go why are they doing that if they have nothing to hide? We have a lot of people coming and talking to us voluntarily. We'll get to the bottom of it. We want to do it quickly, efficiently and thoroughly," the Illinois congressman continued.

Republicans have denounced the 6 January select panel as an attempt to embarrass their party ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Democrats have protested this accusation by noting that the GOP has so far stonewalled all attempts for Congress to undertake any investigation of the deadly attack on the building earlier this year, during which House and Senate members were forced to shelter in secure locations and several people were killed.

The two GOP members remaining on the panel have indicated that they plan to aid the committee’s efforts to fully probe the actions of the former president and his closest allies during and before the deadly attack on the Capitol. The Trump White House faces questions over the speed at which police and National Guard reinforcements were allowed to respond on 6 January as Capitol Police were overwhelmed by thousands of rioters.