Jan. 6 committee subpoenas five House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

Mo Brooks (Ala.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Scott Perry (Pa.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio).The move marks a significant escalation in the committee’s efforts to obtain information related to lawmakers’ communications with President Donald Trump and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows before, during and after the attack.The status of key investigations involving Donald TrumpAll five of the Republican lawmakers subpoenaed Thursday have declined to voluntarily provide information to the committee.In a statement, Thompson said the committee “has learned that several of our colleagues have information relevant to our investigation into the attack on January 6th and the events leading up to it.”“Before we hold our hearings next month, we wished to provide members the opportunity to discuss these matters with the committee voluntarily,” Thompson said. Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the committee, said the five lawmakers subpoenaed Thursday have “some of the most pertinent information for the committee” as it investigates the Jan. 6 attack.“These are people who participated in the rally, were on the phone with the president, who the president reportedly told to rescind the election and one of whom may have been pursuing pardons for those involved,” Schiff told reporters at the Capitol. It seems as though they just want to go after their political opponents.”Jordan, Perry, Biggs and Brooks also declined to say whether they would comply and said they hadn’t yet seen the subpoenas as of Thursday afternoon.“This is all for headlines and sensationalization,” Perry told reporters.In an interview on Fox News Channel, Biggs argued without evidence that the committee doesn’t “really have the authority to issue subpoenas” and that he doesn’t “want to dignify what they are doing.”Brooks issued a lengthy statement in which he derided the panel as the “Witch Hunt Committee” and repeated Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.In a January letter to McCarthy, Thompson said the panel is interested in his correspondence with Meadows ahead of the attack, along with McCarthy’s communications with Trump during and after the riot.