The Jan. 6 special committee subpoenaed former President Donald Trump on Friday, a historic if largely symbolic move that is unlikely to force Trump to testify before the panel's dissolution at the end of the year. Panel chair Rep. Bennie Thompson issued the subpoena eight days after the panel unanimously authorized the Mississippi Democrat to demand testimony from the former president. It's only the second time in modern America.
The story is that Congress took such a step. The committee is demanding his testimony and documents related to evidence showing Trump played a "central role" in trying to subvert the 2020 election and sparked the violent mob attack on Capitol Hill. this continued and worsened as the police attempted to regain control. The subpoena gives Trump until November 4 to file documents and sets a filing date for November 14.
An attorney for the former president said he would review the subpoena. "We understand that the committee, again in violation of rules and normal due process, issued a copy of its subpoena," David Warrington, a partner at the Dhillon Law Group, which Trump hired to work with the select panel, said in the citation . "As with any similar matter, we will review, discuss and respond to this unprecedented action as appropriate. The select panel previously released
copies of subpoenas during their defiance of congressional procedures, and other copies of subpoenas have surfaced during witness disputes. "The evidence shows that they knew this activity was illegal and unconstitutional, Thompson and Vice President Rep.
Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoena: "And she also knew that her allegations of fraud were false for her contacts with members of Congress from mid-December 2020 to January 6, 2021.
The subpoena required documents related to plans to influence state and local lawmakers and officials to delay or change the certification of presidential elections or alternative voter lists promised to Trump in states won by Biden. Efforts to identify alternative voter lists have become the focus of a parallel Justice Department investigation. Investigators highlighted records relating to members of Congress, particularly Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who became part of the select panel's investigation in , and the Justice Department's probe into its ties to Trump's efforts to secure the election to cancel.
Perry had pushed for DOJ officer Jeffrey Clark, considered more sympathetic to voter fraud investigations, to be promoted within the department.
The committee is also looking for evidence that its own investigation may be obstructed, specifically requesting records of Trump's contacts with witnesses, his attorneys and with a former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Tony Ornato, whose own testimony on January 6th was questioned by the panel. The committee also wants Trump to "directly or indirectly" pay some witnesses' legal fees and "find, offer, or discuss employment for any of those witnesses." The Committee has secured voluntary interviews with hundreds of witnesses over the course of its year-long investigation and obtained testimony and documents from dozens more on subpoena.
The panel has also requested phone records from hundreds of witnesses. More than two dozen witnesses filed lawsuits to block the select committee's efforts to obtain testimony or phone transcripts, and some of those lawsuits dragged on for nearly a year. He secured a subpoena against a former president, and litigation over it could prolong the process. Dhillon Law Group has represented several witnesses who have appeared before the panel, including former National Security Adviser to
Michael Flynn, Trump ally Seb Gorka and Women for America First co-founder Amy Kremer.