WASHINGTON: Lawmakers investigating the 2021 attack on the US Capitol subpoenaed former President Donald Trump on Friday to testify about his involvement in the violence, adding to their wide-ranging probe.
The subpoena came after a House panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans voted unanimously last week to compel Trump to appear before investigators.
That requires the 76-year-old Republican to submit documents by Nov. 4 and appear for a hearing on or around Nov. 14 — the Monday after the key Nov. 8 midterm elections.
“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have collected overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former speakers and staff, that you personally attempted to subvert the 2020 presidential election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power. Organized and supervised multi-stakeholder efforts for The committee said in a letter to Trump.
Trump, who urged his supporters to “fight like hell” near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, the day after Joe Biden incited crowds to attack Congress to prevent a peaceful transition of power. He was impeached.
The letter accuses Trump of knowing that the fraud claims had been overwhelmingly rejected by more than 60 courts and denied by his campaign staff and senior advisers.
“In short, you were at the center of the first and only attempt by any American president to overturn an election and obstruct a peaceful transition of power, which ultimately culminated in a bloody attack on our own Capitol and Congress itself. ” .
Without confirming that Trump had received the subpoena, his lawyer David Warrington said his team would “review and analyze” the document and “respond appropriately to this unprecedented action.”
The White House declined to comment on the matter but issued a broad statement that “getting to the bottom on January 6 is critical.”
The panel’s requests have proven difficult to enforce, with former White House aide Steve Bannon the only target held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply.
Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison on Friday, although he is out on bail pending an appeal.
Trump is notorious for his ability to run the clock on congressional investigations and prosecutions, and it’s highly unlikely he’ll agree to testify.
In any case, the deadline for the presentation expires in January with the new term of Congress. Republicans are expected to win back the House of Representatives in the November elections, and plan to end the investigation quickly.
But the move marks an aggressive escalation of the investigation, which has released more than 100 subpoenas and interviewed more than 1,000 people since it began in 2021.
While no current president has been compelled to testify before Congress, lawmakers have subpoenaed several former presidents to discuss their conduct in office.
Trump’s compliance would mean testifying under oath and could be charged with perjury if he lies.
If he refuses to comply, the full House can hold him in criminal contempt in a vote recommending his impeachment, as happened with Bannon.
The panel re-unveiled evidence in eight hearings over the summer on the former president’s involvement in a complex series of coordinated schemes to overturn the 2020 election.
Testimony from witnesses showed Trump and his allies’ efforts to pressure election officials and legally cast votes in swing states, and provided stark examples of Trump’s inertia amid mob rebellion.
The committee also reiterated its position that Trump — who remains a source of misinformation about the 2020 presidential election — poses a “clear and present” threat to democracy.
Lawmakers plan to issue a final report by the end of the year.
The committee has not announced whether it will make direct criminal referrals over the capital attack, though the move would be little more than a gesture since the Justice Department is already investigating.
The list of records that Trump needs to produce includes all of his communications on the day of the coup, as well as a variety of messages in the weeks leading up to the riots.
Investigators specifically mentioned the signal, suggesting that the committee had determined that Trump used an encrypted communications app while participating in the conspiracy.
The software allows users to automatically delete messages within any selected period of time.
The requested documents include any signal communications between Trump and far-right militias such as the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.
