January 6 Capitol Riot Committee Subpoenas Trump

By Staff, Agencies

Former US President Donald Trump was issued a subpoena Friday by the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.

The committee, which voted unanimously on the move, is demanding Trump’s testimony under oath and records relevant to the probe into the attack.

The panel had said on October 13 that it would subpoena Trump, whose supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as a joint session of Congress met to confirm the election of President Joe Biden.

The records being sought by the House committee pursuant to the subpoena are due November 4. The subpoena also says that Trump would be deposed on or about November 14, after the midterm elections.

For the time being, it is still unclear whether Trump will comply with the subpoena.

Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Republican Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming in a letter to Trump on Friday cited what they called his central role in a deliberate, “multi-part effort” to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election, and to remain in power.

The letter accused Trump of “maliciously” making false allegations of election fraud, “attempting to corrupt the Department of Justice” to endorse those claim, pressuring state officials to change election results, and overseeing efforts to submit false electors to the Electoral College.

The letter also noted that he had pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, to refuse to count Electoral College votes during the joint session of Congress.

“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power,” the letter said.

“You were at the center of the first and only effort by any US President to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power, ultimately culminating in a bloody attack on our own Capitol and on the Congress itself,” the letter said.

The committee’s leaders pointed to the fact that seven presidents had testified to Congress after leaving office, most recently Gerald Ford, a Republican.

At least two presidents, Ford and Abraham Lincoln, testified before Congress while serving in the White House, the letter noted.