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Posted: 2022-01-19T18:58:57Z | Updated: 2022-01-19T23:51:08Z

WASHINGTON Investigators from both the Department of Justice and the House Jan. 6 committee appear to be edging closer to former President Donald Trump and his immediate family for their roles in the events leading up to that days violent assault on the Capitol.

In a federal court filing Tuesday, lawyer Bilal Essayli said prosecutors asked his client, Jan. 6 defendant Brandon Straka, about his connections to Trump personally.

The government was focused on establishing an organized conspiracy between defendant, President Donald J. Trump, and allies of the former president, to disrupt the joint session of Congress on January 6, Essayli wrote.

Straka, who spoke at a Stop the Steal rally in Washington the day before the Capitol attack, is awaiting sentencing for his involvement in the January 2021 insurrection, an attempt to overturn Trumps 2020 election loss. He was originally charged with a felony for egging on rioters to take away a police officers shield and to enter the building itself, but was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge in exchange for his cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday issued subpoenas to three of Trumps lawyers involved in spreading his lies that he had actually won the election and suggesting extraconstitutional and possibly illegal means of remaining in power. Among them is personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

And the committee has also subpoenaed the phone call and text message logs of middle son Eric Trump, who spoke at the pre-insurrection rally near the White House and told the audience that Democrat Joe Biden had not actually won the presidency.

Eric Trump, through a spokeswoman for the family business, said Wednesday that he had nothing to conceal. The witch-hunt continues. This partisan committee is welcome to review my phone records, Eric Trump said in a statement. I have absolutely nothing to hide.