The Daily Fuckup

By Oct. 26, 2021, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack was moving deeper into the network of Trump advisers and lawyers who helped shape the post-election fight. The most concrete development that day was the panel’s expected subpoena for John Eastman, the lawyer who helped develop strategies for blocking or delaying certification of the 2020 election results. ([washingtonpost.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jan-6-committee-expected-to-subpoena-lawyer-who-advised-trump-pence-on-how-to-overturn-election/2021/10/26/e9120342-36ae-11ec-9bc4-86107e7b0ab1_story.html?utm_source=openai))

That mattered because Eastman was not a peripheral figure. He was tied to the legal arguments that Trump allies used in the final weeks before the riot, and his work came up repeatedly in later committee records and court proceedings. On Oct. 26, though, the safe factual read was narrower than some broad claims about a full-scale expansion: the committee was still building its case witness by witness, document by document, and Eastman was emerging as one of the next people it wanted under oath. ([washingtonpost.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jan-6-committee-expected-to-subpoena-lawyer-who-advised-trump-pence-on-how-to-overturn-election/2021/10/26/e9120342-36ae-11ec-9bc4-86107e7b0ab1_story.html?utm_source=openai))

The committee’s broader posture was already clear. It had issued subpoenas earlier in the month and had been pressing for testimony and records from people around former President Donald Trump, while the House had also moved forward with contempt proceedings against Steve Bannon after he refused to cooperate. The result was a steady tightening of the investigative net, even if Oct. 26 itself did not mark some giant public break in the case. ([congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/LSB/HTML/LSB10649.web.html?utm_source=openai))

In practical terms, the panel was shifting the Jan. 6 inquiry away from a single-day riot story and toward the planning, messaging, and pressure campaigns that preceded it. That did not require a dramatic hearing or a surprise confession. It required a paper trail, a witness list, and enough persistence to force answers from the people closest to Trump’s effort to stay in power. By that measure, the investigation was still widening on Oct. 26 — but through incremental steps, not a sudden leap. ([washingtonpost.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jan-6-committee-expected-to-subpoena-lawyer-who-advised-trump-pence-on-how-to-overturn-election/2021/10/26/e9120342-36ae-11ec-9bc4-86107e7b0ab1_story.html?utm_source=openai))