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By Katelyn Polantz, Sara Murray and Holmes Lybrand, CNN<\/p>\n
Republican operatives connected to the plan to put forward \u201calternate\u201d electors for Donald Trump <\/a>are set to turn over information to the Justice Department as soon as this week \u2014 as criminal investigations examining efforts to overturn the 2020 election pick up pace.<\/p>\n The DOJ issued numerous subpoenas<\/a> in the past few weeks and is seeking information in all seven battleground states where Trump\u2019s campaign convened the false electors as part of the effort to subvert the Electoral College. Some of the subpoenas called for Republicans connected to the scheme to provide documents by Friday, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the latest step by federal investigators in an already sprawling criminal investigation, and it comes as a parallel investigation in Georgia also shows signs of ramping up<\/a> amid subpoenas for former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to testify.<\/p>\n At the same time, the House select committee is revealing new information in public hearings from its investigation into Trump\u2019s \u201cseven-part plan\u201d to overturn the election that culminated in the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.<\/p>\n That plan, according to the committee, included the fake electors, a pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence to stop the counting of electoral votes, and the assembly of a violent mob that Trump directed to march to the Capitol \u2014 which is expected to be the subject of next Tuesday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n The Justice Department has charged more than 800 people for their role in rioting at the Capitol on January 6. More than 300 have pleaded guilty. In recent months, the DOJ\u2019s investigation has broadened beyond the rioters. It was first focused outside the Trump administration \u2014 on fake electors, organizers of the rally that preceded the attack, and on extremist groups. Now the department is moving closer to the political circles around Trump.<\/p>\n While the criminal investigation moves swiftly \u2014 in recent weeks a \u201cStop the Steal\u201d rally organizer testified to a grand jury<\/a> and a new Oath Keepers conspiracy defendant was charged \u2014 the Justice Department has kept its next round of targets close to the vest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe never know where it\u2019s going to go,\u201d said Philip Linder, a defense attorney for Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who has been charged with seditious conspiracy. \u201cThere\u2019s still stuff going. They\u2019ve got to be looking at anything and everything they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n In late June, the Justice Department issued several subpoenas to individuals involved in the fake electors plot, including GOP officials in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Two Republican state senators in Arizona also received subpoenas around the same time.<\/p>\n The documents to be turned over under subpoenas are likely to include communications between fake electors, as well as with Trump campaign officials who helped orchestrate the effort<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also in late June, federal investigators seized electronics<\/a> from Trump attorney John Eastman. Electronics were also seized during an early morning raid<\/a> at the home of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who attempted to help Trump enlist the department in the effort to claim the 2020 election was fraudulent.<\/p>\n So far, no criminal charges have been filed in connection with efforts in political circles to try to overturn the election.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s potential criminal exposure has risen significantly<\/a> in the wake of last week\u2019s testimony<\/a> from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the House select committee. Hutchinson\u2019s testimony presented new avenues for federal investigators to potentially examine whether Trump tried to obstruct, conspired against or attempted to defraud the government, several experienced prosecutors-turned-defense attorneys told CNN.<\/p>\n The House committee has also raised accusations of people close to Trump trying to influence Hutchinson\u2019s testimony<\/a>. On Friday, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone will testify to the committee<\/a> after he was subpoenaed following Hutchinson\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n The DOJ investigation appears to lag in some ways behind the House committee\u2019s work, and while the two probes have largely operated separate and apart from one another, they are starting to intersect \u2014 and not without tension. The DOJ has requested access to transcripts of witnesses who\u2019ve spoken to the House and been unable to access them as readily as investigators wish. The House says they\u2019ll eventually release all their materials.<\/p>\n Key players from the Trump administration who\u2019ve sat for interviews with the House have not been contacted by the Justice Department, though their attorneys believe they could be in the future.<\/p>\n And while the House select committee readies for a hearing next Tuesday that promises to shed light on connections between Trump\u2019s political world and extremist groups, the DOJ still hasn\u2019t nailed down a major accusation made in court that was poised to link Trump\u2019s inner circle with Rhodes, the Oath Keepers leader.<\/p>\nImpact of Hutchinson testimony<\/h3>\n