After the January 6 Committee of the United States House of Representatives failed to produce evidence linking former President Donald Trump to the riot in the Capitol, they used their first hearing in months on Thursday to subpoena him to testify before the committee. This came just days before the midterm elections in 2022.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), who is in charge of chairing the committee, stated that Trump was at the "center" of the events that surrounded the riot in the Capitol, and that the requirement for him to testify "goes beyond our fact-finding" in the direction of "accountability" to the American people as a whole.
The motion to subpoena Trump's testimony was offered by departing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), a vocal critic of the president whose opposition to Trump cost her the Republican primary for reelection.
NBC News was the first to reveal the subpoena, which was obtained through a leak from the committee:
NEW + SCOOP w/ @alivitali
The January 6th Committee plans to vote to subpoena former President Donald Trump during today’s hearing, sources familiar with the committee’s plans tell @NBCNews
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotcnn) October 13, 2022
Earlier, Thompson asserted that the inquiry being conducted by the committee is not about politics, despite the fact that he, along with many other members of the committee, had opposed to the results of prior presidential elections being recognized, an act that was defined by the committee as an attempt to destroy democracy. Thompson also claimed that the investigation being conducted by the committee is not about politics. It's not about having a good time. It all comes down to the facts, pure and simple.
The group is made up entirely of members of Congress who hold opposing views to those of Donald Trump. These members were personally selected by Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of California, in direct disregard of the enabling legislation for the committee. Therefore, the company's authority to issue subpoenas is being challenged in the federal court system.
In contrast to what is stated in the enabling resolution, Cheney does not hold the position of ranking member on the committee; rather, he is known as the vice chair. Some individuals have the opinion that the committee does not have the power to carry out its subpoenas because it does not have a ranking member, as stipulated in the resolution.
However, the members of the committee have not offered any evidence to support their claims that Trump played a personal and meaningful involvement in the violence. They read their statements from a Teleprompter at a "hearing" that was extremely staged and has been compared to more of a show trial than a congressional investigation.
Due to the existence of executive privilege, it is highly doubtful that the committee will be able to compel Trump to testify. On the other hand, the committee is responsible for at least two prosecutions for Congress-related contempt brought against eyewitnesses who refused to give testimony and who cited legal reasons for not complying with the investigation.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Breitbart.
