What does Trump’s subpoena mean? What’s next for Jan. 6 panel?

WASHINGTON — In a rare step, the House Jan. 6 committee has voted unanimously to subpoena former President Donald Trump — a last effort to get the complete story of the Capitol rebellion because the panel wraps up its work by the top of the yr.

Trump nonetheless does not acknowledge the “former” in entrance of “president,” and he has been relentlessly hostile to the investigation. He referred to as it a “charade and a witch hunt” in a letter to the committee on Friday — however notably didn’t point out the subpoena or say whether or not he would adjust to the demand for his look.

The try to compel Trump’s testimony comes because the committee is tying collectively a number of investigative threads and compiling its last report. The panel is just licensed by means of this Congress, which ends on Jan. 3.

A have a look at what’s next because the panel sprints to its end:

The nine-member committee has interviewed greater than 1,000 witnesses, together with lots of the former president’s prime White House aides. And they’ve laid out an in depth timeline of Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat — together with his inaction as his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But they nonetheless wish to hear from Trump himself.

Now {that a} subpoena has been licensed — on Thursday — it should be delivered in writing to Trump. That step, anticipated early next week, will set a date for an interview and lay out requests for paperwork.

Trump and his attorneys will then determine easy methods to reply. He may comply, negotiate with the committee, announce he’ll defy the subpoena or ignore it altogether. He may additionally go to court docket and attempt to cease it.

If Trump doesn’t comply, the panel must weigh the sensible and political implications of a vote on holding him in contempt of Congress. If the complete House voted to advocate such a cost, the Justice Department would then evaluate the case.

The committee has taken that step with a few of Trump’s allies who refused to adjust to subpoenas, together with Steve Bannon, who was convicted of contempt in July. But holding a former president in contempt can be one other matter, an distinctive step for any Congress.

In his letter on Friday, Trump repeated his false claims of widespread election fraud and stated he was writing to precise “anger, disappointment and complaint” that the committee wasn’t investigating his claims. He additionally took the chance to boast anew in regards to the dimension of the group that gathered for his speech close to the White House on the morning of Jan. 6, earlier than he despatched them marching to the Capitol. He included aerial pictures. He stated nothing in regards to the subpoena.

Even if he does comply, there’s motive to doubt that Trump’s look would assist the investigation. He did reply to some written questions from particular counsel Robert Mueller through the probe of Russian cooperation together with his 2016 marketing campaign. But his solutions produced little or nothing to advance the investigation. More just lately, he appeared for a deposition by the workplace of New York State Attorney General Letitia James — however invoked his Fifth Amendment proper towards self-incrimination greater than 400 instances in refusing to reply questions.

The committee remains to be speaking to attorneys for former Vice President Mike Pence, because it has been for months. But it’s unclear whether or not the lawmakers will subpoena the vice chairman or ask him for testimony.

Several of Pence’s aides have talked to investigators, some offering nice element about his actions and frame of mind as he resisted Trump’s pleas to object to the certification of electoral votes that day and attempt to overturn their defeat to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Video proven Thursday on the committee’s last listening to earlier than the midterm elections confirmed Pence coordinating with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for assist because the rioters had been contained in the constructing, a few of them calling for Pence’s execution. The leaders had been working with safety officers to make sure that they may return to the Capitol and certify Biden’s victory.

The committee will even need to determine whether or not to refer any allegations of crimes to the Justice Department. While federal prosecutors are conducting their very own investigations into Jan. 6 and Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, the congressional committee has its separate, huge trove of proof.

Lawmakers on the panel have hinted a number of instances over the previous yr that they’ll subject felony referrals. At the listening to on Thursday, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s Republican vice chairwoman, stated that the panel “may ultimately decide” to take action. She stated they’ve “sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals.”

While such a referral wouldn’t drive any motion, it could amplify the political strain on Attorney General Merrick Garland because the division pursues its personal probes.

The committee just lately acquired greater than 1.5 million pages of paperwork from the Secret Service. But lawmakers say they nonetheless don’t have every little thing they need.

The panel is working to confirm the accounts of White House aides who described Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 as he tried to go to the Capitol and accompany his supporters, a whole bunch of whom ultimately broke in. Security officers, together with many White House aides and GOP members of Congress, had been vehemently against the thought. Trump was furious and tried, finally unsuccessfully, to go to the Capitol anyway, in accordance with a number of accounts aired by the committee.

California Rep. Pete Aguilar, a Democratic member of the panel, stated the lawmakers “will be recalling witnesses and conducting further investigative depositions” primarily based on the Secret Service materials. The company has not turned over textual content messages that it says had been deleted.

The panel’s anticipated last motion can be a large report laying out proof, findings and legislative suggestions to make sure nothing like Jan. 6 ever occurs once more. But it’s unclear how a lot of its investigative materials can be launched to the general public.

In considered one of eight hearings final summer season, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, one other Democratic member, stated, “We have solely proven a small fraction of what we’ve got discovered.”

Lawmakers have made clear that the report will lay out what they view because the stakes for the nation as many Republicans nonetheless imagine, falsely, that the 2020 election was stolen and as Trump considers one other run in 2024.

“With every effort to excuse or justify the conduct of the former president, we chip away at the foundation of our republic,” Cheney stated on the listening to.