Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Experts: Jan. 6 panel treads risky ground with subpoenas
The decision by the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to slap House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and four other Republican lawmakers with subpoenas threatens to plunge Congress into deeper division, experts say.
No one could recall a committee other than ethics panels trying to force the testimony of colleagues, and the decision risks a near-term legal clash and long-term political reprisals.
“We’re in a new chapter,” said Thomas Spulak, a King & Spalding LLP partner who served as staff director to the House Rules Committee and later as general counsel to the chamber in the 1990s.
Members of the investigatory panel said they are under pressure to complete their work and still need critical information from Minority Leader McCarthy and four other allies of former President Donald Trump about the insurrection.
“It’s a reflection of how important and serious the investigation is and how grave the attack on the Capitol was,” said committee Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the nine-seat panel’s only other Republican, and Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland were the committee members leading the push to subpoena lawmakers.
Kinzinger is not running for re-election, but Cheney is locked in a competitive August primary battle with a candidate backed by Trump and McCarthy. People familiar with the discussions said by early last week the entire committee agreed that the seriousness of the attack required the move, despite any tensions between Cheney and McCarthy.
Experts say they can recall no committee other than the Senate and House ethics panels ever subpoenaing a member of Congress. The decision presents risks of new levels of acrimony within the Capitol itself — and likely retribution from a future Republican majority.
So far, the panel has conducted or taken more than 1,000 interviews and depositions.