The January 6th committee never got McCarthy, key Trump aide, to testify. Here is who they are.

WASHINGTON – Despite the release of hundreds of transcripts and an 845-page final reportThe House Committee to investigated the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021left a number of questions unanswered.

More than 1,000 witnesses cooperated with the investigationbut dozens of key people either defied subpoenas or refused to answer questions citing executive privilege or because of their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Ten of the witnesses who defied subpoenas worked at the White House as top aides to former President Donald Trumpwere lawyers arguing baseless allegations of electoral fraud or were House Republican allies of Trump who criticized the committee as illegitimate.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, whose life was threatened during the attack, also declined to participate. Among the remaining mysteries is what Trump said to Pence during his tense call on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, when he urged Pence, as president of the Senate, to reject voters from states that President Joe Biden won.

But the most notable absence was Trump, who also defied a committee subpoena and fought it in federal court.

“Many witnesses hid behind claims of privilege, including Donald Trump himself, who initially blurted out that he would be willing to testify but then sued so he could avoid actually facing our questions,” the chairman, Rep. . Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. and deputy chairman, rep. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a joint statement Monday.

Here’s what we know about 10 of the defiant witnesses:

Mark Meadows: He was central to the planning, responding to Jan. 6, witnesses said

The former White House Chief of Staff who helped organize former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally and coordinated the administration’s response to the riot defied his subpoena. The House found him in contempt, but the Justice Department declined to prosecute him for contempt of Congress.

Meadows comes up repeatedly in transcripts of other witnesses. His aide Cassidy Hutchinson said he held meetings with former House colleagues plotting how to overturn the 2020 election and routinely burned documents in his office fireplace.

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Meadows’ flurry of texts, which he gave the committee before deciding not to cooperate, yielded messages from lawmakers and Trump relatives urging him to cut off the mob, while other allies urged him to continue fighting baseless allegations of voter fraud .

But Meadows cited executive privilege to protect the confidentiality of his communications with Trump. Biden has revoked executive privileges for documents and testimony about the attack, which did not prompt recalcitrant witnesses to testify.

January 6 charges: Will Trump or his allies be impeached on January 6? Legal experts explain obstacles DOJ faces

Dan Scavino handled Trump’s social media

Dan Scavino, the former White House deputy chief of staff for communications, also defied his subpoena. The House found him in contempt, but the Justice Department declined to prosecute him

Scavino served as Trump’s director of social media such as Twitter, but said Trump also wrote his own posts. Scavino monitored social media, where threats of violence surfaced in the weeks leading up to the riot.

The committee accused Trump of dereliction of duty for not interrupting the mob in the 187 minutes between the end of his speech near the White House that morning and when he posted a video urging people to go home. One element that lawmakers said fired up the crowd came when Trump at 2:24 PM tweeted that Pence “didn’t have the guts to do what should have been done” as Pence fled the Senate floor and the mob chanted to hang him.

Other witnesses said Scavino could provide more insight into the hours-long debate over whether Trump would issue a public statement or even a tweet to interrupt the crowd.

More: Ketchup, Regrets, Blood and Rage: A Guide to the January 6 Hearings Witnesses and Testimony

Steve Bannon stepped up the pressure on Pence, the committee said

Steve Bannon, a Trump political strategist who defied his subpoena, was found guilty of contempt of Congress and sentenced to four months in prison. His appeal is pending.

Bannon told staff from China on 31 October 2020 that Trump would falsely declare victory even if he lost the election, saying it would be a “firestorm”.

In a podcast, Bannon said Pence was “spitting a little,” meaning he no longer supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which the committee described as increasing pressure on Pence.

Bannon called Trump at least twice on January 5, 2021.

Peter Navarro focused attention on Pence

Peter Navarro, Trump’s former trade adviser defied his subpoena and is awaiting trial Jan. 30.

Navarro, the director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, referred to the strategy to get Pence to overturn the election as the “Green Bay Sweep,” named after one of the football team’s running plays.

Navarro called Pence the quarterback who could delay the certification of the election. Navarro described the strategy in his book: “In Trump Time: A Journal of America’s Plague Year.” The committee said the account explained why Trump loyalists were fixated on Pence.

But Pence refused to attend. In one book passage, Navarro compared Pence to Brutus, a Roman politician who helped assassinate Julius Caesar.

Jeffrey Clark triggered the DOJ threat of resignation with a bid for attorney general

Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who was seeking to become Trump’s acting attorney general, declined to answer questions citing executive privilege

Clark, a former assistant attorney general for the environment, drafted a letter for the attorney general to send to states that falsely claimed the Justice Department had found fraud and urged state lawmakers to convene and change their voters. Clark sought to replace acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to send the letter.

In a three-hour Oval Office meeting on January 3, 2021, top lawyers from the Justice Department and the White House threatened to resign if Trump elevated Clark. Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, called Clark’s letter a “murder-suicide pact” between the administration and state lawmakers.

When Clark refused to answer committee questions, his attorney Harry MacDougald said the panel was illegitimate because of how it was organized, even though federal courts upheld its subpoenas. “You are railroading Mr. Clark, publicly abusing him and threatening him with criminal prosecution on a completely bogus legal basis,” MacDougald said.

John Eastman devised Trump’s strategy to overturn the 2020 election

John Eastman, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, refused to answer substantive questions under his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Eastman devised the strategy to get Pence to turn away voters from key states that Biden won, hoping that state legislatures would change their voters or the race would be decided in the House, where the Republican delegations outnumbered the Democrats.

Eastman acknowledged that the Supreme Court would likely reject the strategy unanimously, according to Pence aides.

U.S. District Judge David Carter ruled that Eastman must provide most of his emails to the committee, despite claims of attorney-client privilege. In the civil suit, Carter ruled that Eastman and Trump “more likely than not” acted illegally to obstruct Congress. “The illegality of the plan was obvious,” Carter wrote.

The committee called for The Justice Department will criminally charge Eastman and Trump.

Kevin McCarthyHouse Republicans defied subpoenas they called illegitimate

Republican representatives Kevin McCarthy of California, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona each defied a subpoena and criticized the committee as illegitimate and biased.

The committee referred the four to the ethics committee for possible inquiries, but little is expected because the panel is equally divided between the parties.

Here’s what we know about each of the lawmakers’ roles dealing with January 6, 2021:

• McCarthy spoke with Trump on Jan. 6, when Trump told him, “I think they’re just more upset about the election theft than you are,” according to former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash. McCarthy said in the House of Representatives on January 13, 2021: “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters.” He told Republican lawmakers he would call on Trump to resign. But he later endorsed Trump and received his endorsement to become Speaker of the House of Representatives.

• Jordan also spoke with Trump on January 6, 2021, and had attended several post-election meetings with White House officials and Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Jordan led a Jan. 2, 2021 conference call for Trump and lawmakers to discuss strategies, including encouraging the president’s supporters to “march on the Capitol” on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the committee.

• Perry introduces Clark to Meadows and Trump. Perry was present at a meeting where members of the White House counsel’s office explained that Trump’s strategy of sending in fake voters was not legally sound, according to the committee. Perry also attended post-election meetings to discuss strategy to overturn the election.

• Biggs also attended the post-election strategy sessions. He sent a text message to Meadows on Nov. 6 urging him to “encourage state legislators to nominate” fraudulent voters, according to the committee. Biggs coordinated with Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem to collect signatures from lawmakers supporting voter fraud, and Biggs contacted voter fraud in at least one state to seek evidence of voter fraud, the committee said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: McCarthy, Trump: The key January 6 witnesses who refused to testify