Over 30 Trump associates subpoenaed by grand jury over alleged efforts to influence 2020 election results
CBSN
More than 30 people associated with former President Donald Trump and alleged efforts to influence the 2020 election results have received federal grand jury subpoenas, four sources told CBS News.
The subpoenas, some of which were issued last week, mark a significant escalation in the Justice Department's investigation into origins of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot and other alleged attempts to stop the transfer of power to then-President-elect Joe Biden. One source familiar with the case characterized the investigation as huge.
The Justice Department is examining how money was raised and spent on alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election; efforts to submit fake "alternate" electors to Congress from states lost by Trump; and the "Stop The Steal" rally held at the Ellipse, on White House grounds, on Jan. 6, just before the Capitol riot.
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.