The House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill took the step of voting to subpoena former President Trump.
“He is the only person at the center of the story of what happened on January 6. So we want to hear from him. The Committee must do everything in our power to tell the fullest story possible and provide recommendations to help ensure that something like January 6 never happens again.”
“We need to be fair and thorough to get the full context of the evidence that we have obtained,” Chairman Bennie Thomspon (D-Miss.) said shortly before the panel cast a unanimous 9-0 vote.
“We also recognize that subpoenaing a former president is a serious and extraordinary action. That’s why we want to take it in full view of the American people,” he said.
The move marks a step in the effort to hold Trump accountable for violence on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021 in a riot the Committee says was orchestrated by the former president.
However, the subpoena is unlikely to succeed. Trump has remained defiant throughout this time. He is expected to challenge the summons in court, a process that will surely take time.
The motion to subpoena Trump was introduced by Vice President Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). She said that while investigators have “enough information” to weigh criminal references and make recommendations for electoral reforms to Congress, “one key task remains.” “We must seek the testimony, under oath, of the central player on January 6,” she said.
He then singled out figures from Trump’s inner circle who appeared before the Committee but did not disclose information about their direct dealings with Trump, choosing instead to uphold his Fifth Amendment right.
That list includes Roger Stone, a Trump confidant; Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser; and John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who had drafted the dubious legal foundation on which the “stop the theft” movement was based.
Cheney noted that the Justice Department is still investigating the roles all of those figures played on January 6. In the meantime, he said, “we are forced to seek answers directly from the man who set this whole thing in motion.” “And every American is entitled to those answers.”
If Trump refuses to comply with the mandatory order to testify, the committee and then the House of Representatives could vote on whether to send a contempt referral to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department has acted on two cases that have been referred to it and charged against former White House strategist Steve Bannon and White House adviser Peter Navarro.
Bannon faces sentencing next week.
“The need for this committee to listen to Donald Trump goes beyond finding facts,” Thompson said. “This is a question about accountability to the American people. He must be held accountable.”
