Trump told to testify over Capitol riots
The committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol in Washington DC has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump.
Lawmakers say the former president was the “central cause” of a co-ordinated effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election ending in the riot on January 6, 2021.
The nine-member panel issued a letter to Trump’s lawyers demanding his testimony under oath by November 14 and outlining a request for a series of corresponding documents, including personal communications between the former president and members of Congress as well as extremist groups.
“We recognise that a subpoena to a former president is a significant and historic action,” chairman Bennie Thompson and vice-chair Liz Cheney wrote in the letter to the former commander in chief. “We do not take this action lightly.”
They said only Trump could answer questions about what he was doing and saying during the siege.
It is unclear how Trump will respond. He could comply or negotiate with the committee, announce he will defy the subpoena, or ignore it altogether. He could also go to court and try to stop it.
The subpoena is the most striking escalation in the House of Representatives committee’s 15-month investigation of the insurrection, bringing it into direct conflict with the man they have so far investigated through the testimony of aides and allies.