In terms of securing an interview under oath with former President Donald Trump, the road ahead for the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol could possibly be short-lived and bumpy.
House lawmakers took the historic step of subpoenaing a former president last week in a show of force invoked just hours after his former adviser was sentenced to prison time for denying the identical request. With the issuance of the subpoena on Friday, the committee gave Trump until Nov. 4 to supply documents and ordered him to seem for an interview – in person or virtually – “starting on or about” Nov. 14. Whether Trump, who has for many years famously skirted and delayed legal proceedings, abides by that timeline stays to be seen.
However the committee likely only has until the tip of the yr to compel Trump’s testimony, with the panel set to dissolve just 30 days after it issues its final report, or perhaps sooner within the likely scenario that Republicans regain a majority within the House and produce an end to the committee, invalidating the panel’s subpoena issued to Trump.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California taunted Trump in an interview with MSNBC on Sunday, saying that he’s not “man enough to point out up” and comply with the committee’s subpoena. Nevertheless, committee members have appeared hopeful that Trump will appear for testimony.
“We’re anticipating that the previous president will understand his legal obligation, will comply with the subpoena,” Committee Chairperson Liz Cheney of Wyoming said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” noting that the panel has “many alternatives that we are going to consider if the previous president decides that he is just not going to comply along with his legal obligation.”
Together with its subpoena on Friday, the committee outlined in a letter to Trump his ‘multi-part effort” to overturn the election, citing the previous president’s “purposely and maliciously disseminating false allegations of fraud related to the 2020 presidential election,” his try and “corrupt the Department of Justice,” his pressure on the vice chairman to “refuse to count electoral votes during Congress’ joint session” on Jan. 6 and his “summoning tens of hundreds” of supporters, a few of whom were armed, to the Capitol, amongst other efforts.
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“As demonstrated in our hearings, we’ve got assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you just personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power,” committee chairpersons Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Cheney wrote to Trump within the letter.
Cheney emphasized the seriousness of the committee’s move on Sunday, when asked whether the panel would allow Trump to be interviewed on live television, which he has reportedly expressed interest in. But she didn’t appear to rule out the choice, saying only that it will not allow Trump to make a “circus” of its process.
“This isn’t going to be his first debate against Joe Biden and the circus and the food fight that that became,” she said. “This can be a far-too serious set of issues.”
She emphasized the seriousness of the “threat” posed by Trump beyond the committee’s investigation as well, noting that quite a few Republicans are willing to disregard it in favor of specializing in whether the Republican Party will prevail.
Cheney criticized Republican leaders – including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who billed himself as a moderate Republican in his race against Democratic incumbent Terry McAuliffe last yr, for his recent praise of Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, despite her openly denying the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election. She also pointed to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who she said has at every opportunity chosen his own political gain over doing what’s right – especially on the subject of Trump.
The conservative lawmaker, who said she voted with Trump 93% of the time while he was in office, warned of Trump’s impact on the Republican Party itself, saying that if he becomes the Republican nominee in 2024, the party will “shatter.”
“I feel that there’s absolute confidence that his election in 2016 began something that’s been very dangerous for this nation,” Cheney said. “And he can never be president again.”