Dear Reader, 

When you fill a plate at the buffet line, you plan to eat the food. At the moment, the Justice Department’s dish is heaping. 

This week, we learned that DOJ has served grand jury subpoenas on about 40 more witnesses in its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Among those receiving subpoenas were Dan Scavino, who served as White House deputy chief of staff and social media director to former President Donald Trump, and Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner who spent three years in federal prison and later supported the “Stop the Steal” movement, including participating in a planning meeting at the Willard Hotel on the eve of the attack. In addition, DOJ also obtained search warrants to review the contents of the cell phones of Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer for the former president, and Mike Roman, one of Trump’s campaign strategists who directed Trump’s election day operations. Mike Lindell, a high-profile Trump ally, has indicated that his phone was seized, too. What accounts for this sudden round of gluttonous helpings? 

One clue lies in the language of the subpoenas, which, according to one report, seek “information about any members of the executive and legislative branches who may have taken part in planning or executing the rally, or tried to obstruct, influence, impede or delay the certification of the presidential election.”