Former Missouri Republican Party chairman subpoenaed by January 6 committee
The House of Representatives Committee investigating the riot on January 6 subpoenaed a former Missouri Republican Party chairman on Friday who they say was a leader of the “Stop the Steal” movement.
The committee sent a letter to Ed Martin, who was chairman of the Missouri Republican Party between 2013 and 2015, asking for documents and a deposition in regards to his role in the planning leading up to the protest on January 6, where a mob of Trump supporters breached the United States Capitol and briefly disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
Martin will have to produce the documents by December 23 and appear for a deposition on January 5, 2022. He did not respond to a voicemail left by The Kansas City Star.
“The Select Committee expects these witnesses to join the hundreds of individuals who have already cooperated with our investigation as we work to provide the American people with answers about what happened on January 6th and ensure nothing like that day ever happens again,” said Chairman Bennie Thompson in a press release.
Martin is the president of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, a group named for the conservative writer who was known for her opposition to feminism and her effort to prevent the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.
The group’s website calls Martin the co-founder of the so-called Stop the Steal movement, which claimed that the election had been stolen from former President Donald Trump. Courts dismissed all of the lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign and there has been no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Martin was also set to attend the rally in Washington, D.C., on January 6, according to a press release on the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles website.
“On the day Congress meets in accordance with the Electoral College we are bringing one million patriots to the capital city,” Martin said in the press release. “We the People must demand of Congress that they do not certify the fictitious election results!”
The letter from the committee says they have documents that show Martin helped organize the “Wild Protest” event on January 6 and paid for vendors at the event. It draws connections between the protest organized by Martin and Ali Alexander, who has already been deposed by the committee as a co-founder of “Stop the Steal.”
The subpoena comes as the January 6 Committee has met resistance from several people tied to Trump. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been held in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the committee and the committee has prepared to hold former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt because he stopped cooperating with the committee. He sued the committee earlier this week.
Martin served as chief of staff to former Gov. Matt Blunt between 2006 and 2007 and launched failed bids for a seat in the Third Congressional District in 2010 and attorney general in 2012.
In 2008, The Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch found that Martin improperly used his role as chief of staff for political purposes after they obtained emails from his time in office.
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 4:17 PM.