últimas notícias

At the time, Mr. Clark was proposing to send a letter to state officials in Georgia falsely stating that the department had evidence that could lead Georgia to rescind its certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in that key swing state. The effort was cut short by his superiors in the department.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has said little publicly about the criminal investigation other than that the Justice Department would follow the facts. But he has been under pressure from some Democrats, including members of the House select committee, to hold Mr. Trump and his allies to account for the effort to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.

The dramatic developments regarding Mr. Clark came to light as a federal grand jury sitting in Washington continued to issue subpoenas to people involved in a related plan by Mr. Trump and his allies to overturn the election: an effort to subvert the normal workings of the electoral process by creating fake slates of pro-Trump electors in states that were actually won by Mr. Biden.

In the past two days, according to several people familiar with the matter, at least nine people in four different states have received subpoenas in connection with the fake-elector investigation. They were largely those who agreed to be electors for Mr. Trump themselves or were aides to Mr. Trump’s campaign in states where the plan was carried out.

Among those who received subpoenas were Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, and her husband, Michael, both of whom served as electors on Mr. Trump’s purported slate in the state, according to a person familiar with the matter. Along with the Wards, subpoenas were issued to two other pro-Trump electors in Arizona, Nancy Cottle and Loraine B. Pellegrino, the person said.

Their lawyer, Alexander Kolodin, attacked the Justice Department’s fake elector inquiry.

“This is an investigation based on allegations that our clients engaged in core First Amendment activity — petitioning Congress about grievances,” Mr. Kolodin said.