Jan. 6 Panel Subpoenas Retired Colonel Who Shared Plan to Overturn Election

WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 onslaught astatine the Capitol issued a subpoena connected Thursday for Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel with a inheritance successful accusation warfare who had circulated a elaborate and utmost program to overturn the 2020 election.

The committee has been scrutinizing Mr. Waldron’s relation successful spreading false accusation astir the predetermination since a 38-page PowerPoint presumption helium circulated connected Capitol Hill was turned implicit to the sheet by Mark Meadows, President Donald J. Trump’s past main of staff, who denied having thing to bash with it.

“The papers helium reportedly provided to medication officials and members of Congress is an alarming blueprint for overturning a nationwide election,” Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and president of the committee, said.

On Jan. 4, associates of Mr. Waldron spoke to a radical of senators and informed them astir the allegations of predetermination fraud successful the PowerPoint, Mr. Waldron told The New York Times precocious successful an interview. On Jan. 5, helium said, helium personally briefed a tiny radical of House members whom helium did not identify; that treatment besides focused connected baseless claims of overseas interference successful the election. He said helium had made the papers disposable to the lawmakers.

Mr. Waldron told The Washington Post that helium had contributed to the instauration of the papers and had visited the White House respective times aft past year’s election, and spoken with Mr. Meadows “maybe 8 to 10 times.”

Mr. Waldron, who specialized successful intelligence power operations and erstwhile was deployed to Iraq, retired from the subject successful 2016 aft 30 years of service. He appears to pb a quieter beingness these days, describing himself connected his LinkedIn page arsenic the founder, forklift operator and level sweeper astatine One Shot Distillery and Brewery successful Dripping Springs, Texas.

But astir arsenic soon arsenic the 2020 polls closed, helium joined a wide-ranging effort to transportation the nationalist and cardinal Republican politicians that the ballot number had been marred by rampant fraud.

By mid-November, Mr. Waldron was successful interaction with Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s idiosyncratic lawyer, who astatine the clip was overseeing challenges to the election. Mr. Waldron fed Mr. Giuliani accusation astir alleged attempts by overseas powers to hack American voting machines and astir suspected left-wing operatives who were moving for the ballot tabulation institution Dominion Voting Systems. Some of these baseless claims yet made their mode into national lawsuits attacking Dominion’s role successful the predetermination that were filed by the pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.

“Colonel successful the military, large warfare record,” Mr. Giuliani aboriginal said of Mr. Waldron successful a deposition helium gave successful a defamation suit brought by a Dominion employee. “I’ve had important dealings with him and he’s very, precise thorough and precise experienced successful this benignant of work.”

Mr. Giuliani said his ineligible squad enactment up a “big whiteboard” that laid retired its strategies portion helium and chap lawyers, including Ms. Powell and Jenna Ellis, ran operations arsenic “really progressive supervisors.”

Mr. Giuliani said different lawyer, Boris Epshteyn, was focusing connected fraud allegations successful Nevada and Arizona, portion Mr. Waldron was investigating conspiracies related to Dominion voting machines.

“If I were to deliberation of Dominion, I would deliberation of Sidney carrying the shot connected that, with everybody other helping, and Phil was the investigator,” Mr. Giuliani said.

Mr. Waldron besides participated successful meetings astatine the Willard Hotel successful Washington, D.C., successful aboriginal January to program ways to situation the predetermination results, according to the committee.

Key Aspects of the Jan. 6 Inquiry

In the aftermath of the election, Mr. Waldron was moving intimately with a Texas-based institution called Allied Security Operations Group, whose co-founder, Russell J. Ramsland Jr., was besides helping Ms. Powell with her lawsuits by sending her affidavits claiming that Dominion’s voting machines could beryllium easy hacked by overseas powers. As aboriginal arsenic August 2020, adjacent earlier a azygous ballot was cast, according to tribunal papers filed by Dominion connected Tuesday, Mr. Ramsland had been hired by Patrick Byrne, the erstwhile main enforcement of Overstock.com, to “reverse engineer” the grounds needed to “mislead radical into believing” that Dominion helped bargain the 2020 election.

But the ineligible run against Dominion was lone 1 portion of what amounted to a full-court property against the validity of the ballot results. Mr. Ramsland besides began to look connected right-wing media outlets similar Fox News and Newsmax to beforehand conspiracy theories astir the election. He claimed, for example, that machine servers based successful Germany had been utilized to flip votes successful the United States. Mr. Trump amplified that allegation connected Twitter.

Not agelong after, Allied Security became progressive successful penning a study astir predetermination results successful Antrim County, Mich., that falsely claimed voting machines determination had a 68 percent mistake rate. That allegation excessively ended up connected Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed.

When ineligible challenges against the predetermination failed, Mr. Waldron took a caller tack, joining Mr. Giuliani astatine unofficial “election fraud” hearings conducted by authorities lawmakers successful a fistful of plaything states. The intent of the hearings was not lone to further beforehand Mr. Trump’s falsehoods astir the predetermination but besides to effect the crushed for authorities legislators to workout power implicit the predetermination results.

In precocious November, Mr. Waldron appeared astatine a proceeding conducted by the Pennsylvania Senate and offered up the baseless assertion that much than a cardinal votes successful the authorities could person been “altered oregon fraudulent.” To hole this expected problem, helium called for a “detailed forensic analysis” of the voting machines and bundle utilized successful Pennsylvania.

At the extremity of the hearing, a astonishment impermanent called successful by talker phone: Mr. Trump. He told attendees that helium had been watching the proceeding from the Oval Office connected OAN, the far-right tv channel, and recovered it “very interesting.”

Days later, Mr. Waldron appeared with Mr. Giuliani astatine different proceeding successful Phoenix and told the assemblage that Dominion’s voting machines were susceptible to manipulation. “Your ballot is not arsenic unafraid arsenic your Venmo account,” helium said. A video clip of his testimony was aboriginal posted connected Mr. Trump’s authoritative YouTube page.

Mr. Waldron is inactive astatine it. On Tuesday, helium appeared astatine a proceeding of the Louisiana State Legislature to present a presumption astir voting machines and predetermination systems that helium billed arsenic “Built for Integrity.” He struck themes that person formed the ground of his complaints astir the 2020 election, railing against mail-in ballots and the deficiency of signature verifications and suggesting that authorities lawmakers had the eventual authorization to determine predetermination results.