Jan. 6 committee extends deadline for Trump to turn over documents
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has extended the deadline for former President Donald Trump to turn over documents as part of a subpoena issued last month, while reiterating its request for a sitdown interview.
The panel, comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans, issued a statement late Friday saying it is in communication with Trump’s attorneys. Friday had been the committee’s deadline for Trump to produce an extensive number of documents and communications with lawmakers.
“We have informed the former President’s counsel that he must begin producing records no later than next week and he remains under subpoena for deposition testimony starting on Nov. 14,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., wrote in the statement.
The committee’s deadlines for document or deposition requests in other subpoenas have generally been subject to negotiation, but only when there is a direct line of communication with the witness and their attorney.
The committee’s decision to subpoena Trump in late October was a major escalation in the investigation, a step lawmakers said was necessary because the former president was the “central player” in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The subpoena set the stage for a potential legal battle with Trump at a time when he is considering launching another White House run.
In addition to demanding that Trump testify either at the Capitol or by videoconference by mid-November, the committee also made 19 requests for documents and communication — including any messages Trump sent on the encrypted messaging app Signal “or any other means” to members of Congress and others about the stunning events of the Capitol attack.
The scope of the committee’s request is expansive, pursuing documents from Sept. 1, 2020 — two months before the election — to the present on Trump’s communications with groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, as the panel looks to compile a historical record of the run-up to the Capitol attack, the event itself and the aftermath.
It remains unclear what action, if any, the committee will take in response to Trump missing the document deadline. In previous situations, when met with defiance, lawmakers have voted to hold Trump’s allies in contempt of Congress.