U.S Jan. 6 riot panel subpoena’s Trump
The United States House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued an order mandating former President Donald Trump to testify under oath and provide documents to it.
The committee said it had sent a subpoena to Trump requiring documents to be submitted to the panel by November 4 and him to appear for deposition testimony beginning on or about November 14.
Deposition testimony often refers to closed-door, videotaped questioning of a witness on the record.
Such testimony could be made public and become part of a final report by the special panel.
“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 committee wrote in a letter to Trump on Friday.
The House Select committee’s seven Democratic and two Republican members voted unanimously on October 13 in favor of subpoenaing Trump, a move that could lead to criminal charges if he does not comply.
U.S federal law says that failure to comply with a congressional subpoena is a misdemeanor, punishable by one to 12 months imprisonment.
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Trump, who regularly refers to the panel as the “unselect committee,” has accused it of waging unfair political attacks on him while refusing to investigate his charges of widespread election fraud.
He is not likely to cooperate with the subpoena and could simply try to run out the clock on a committee whose mandate will likely end early next year if Republicans win a majority in the House in November’s midterm elections.
Thousands of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump delivered a fiery speech at a rally near the White House featuring false claims that his defeat in the 2020 presidential election by Democrat Joe Biden was the result of fraud.
The assault saw rioters smash through glass and battle police. Five people including a police officer died during or shortly after the riot and more than 140 police officers were injured.
The House Jan. 6 select committee has been investigating the attack on the Capitol for more than a year.
It has held a series of hearings making its case, via documents, live witness testimony and recorded testimony from interviews conducted behind closed doors, that Trump was largely responsible for the deadly assault on the Capitol.
Zainab Sa’id
