Trump ordered to appear before committee investigating US Capitol attack

A COMMITTEE investigating the 2021 attack on the US Capitol has voted to subpoena former president Donald Trump to give evidence.

The panel voted unanimously to compel the former president to appear. “We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6th’s central player,” said Republican Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chairwoman.

Mr Trump is almost certain to fight the subpoena and decline to testify.

In the committee’s 10th public session, just weeks before the congressional mid-term elections, the panel summed up Mr Trump’s “staggering betrayal” of his oath of office.

That was how Democratic chairman Bennie Thompson put it, describing Mr Trump’s unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s win.

With vivid new details and evidence, including from the former president’s Cabinet secretaries and US Secret Service, the panel showed Mr Trump was told repeatedly by those around him that the election was over yet he still orchestrated the far-reaching effort to stop Mr Biden from taking office. Several ex-aides testified Mr Trump said privately he knew he had lost to Mr Biden.

In other striking new video, the panel showed previously unseen footage of congressional leaders phoning officials for help during the Capitol siege.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer can be seen talking to governors in Virginia and Maryland. Later it shows Senate Republican Leader Mitch Mcconnell and others in the party asking Mr Trump’s acting attorney general for help.

“They’re breaking the law in many different ways - quite frankly at the instigation of the president of the United States,” Ms Pelosi is heard saying at one point. “Do you believe this?” she exclaims. The video comes from a documentary being produced by Ms Pelosi’s daughter.

Earlier, in never-before-seen Secret Service messages, the panel produced evidence that extremist groups provided the muscle in the fight for Mr Trump’s presidency, planning weeks before the attack to send a violent force to Washington.

The Secret Service warned in a December 26, 2020, email of a tip that members of the right-wing Proud Boys planned to outnumber the police in a march in Washington on January 6.