Former chairman of Wisconsin GOP party signals he will comply with Jan. 6 committee subpoena

A former chairman of Wisconsin state’s Republican Party signaled that he will be complying with a subpoena he received from the House select committee investigating the events around the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Andrew Hitt was among a group of Republicans who submitted documents to the National Archives, Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette, a federal judge and the U.S. Senate, saying that former President Trump had won the 2020 election despite the fact that only an hour prior to that the state Supreme Court had said the victor was President Biden, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Hitt on Friday was issued a subpoena, along with 13 others from other states such as Arizona and Georgia, seeking his cooperation with the Jan. 6 committee.

“Your delegation of purported electors for former President Trump and former Vice President Pence then sent an alleged ‘Certificate of the Votes’ of the purported electors to Congress for consideration by former Vice President Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, during the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021,” committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a letter to Hitt.

“The existence of these purported alternate-elector votes was used as a justification to delay or block the certification of the election during the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021,” it added.

Hitt, who is now a partner at Michael Best Strategies LLC, said that he will be complying with the Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

“I absolutely will cooperate with the committee’s request to provide information,” Hitt said. “As I said in the past, the Wisconsin Electors were simply following the guidance of Wisconsin legal counsel to preserve the ongoing Wisconsin legal strategy. There was no intent beyond that and I’m happy to participate in this process to clarify any confusion that may exist.”  

The committee’s subpoenas and voluntary requests for sit-downs have also signaled that its members are interested in also speaking to people closer to Trump’s orbit, including his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. 

Meanwhile, last week the House panel received over 700 pages of contested National Archives documents after the Supreme Court blocked a bid by Trump to shield those documents from the committee. 

The Hill has reached out to Hitt for comment.