January 6 panel votes to issue subpoena for Trump testimony

The US congressional committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot is issuing a legal summons for former President Donald Trump to testify.

“He is required to answer for his actions,” said Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.

If Mr Trump does not comply with the summons, known as a subpoena, he could face criminal charges and imprisonment.

The select committee is looking into Trump supporters’ storming of Congress on 6 January 2021.

The panel’s seven Democrats and two Republicans voted 9-0 in favour on Thursday of issuing the subpoena for the former Republican president to provide documents and testimony under oath in connection with the Capitol riot.

The subpoena is expected to be issued in the coming days, and include a deadline for when Mr Trump must comply. 

Representative Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice-chairwoman and a Wyoming Republican, said: “We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion. And every American is entitled to those answers.”

The surprise move came during the investigation’s ninth and possibly final public hearing for the investigation into last year’s raid on Congress.

At Thursday’s session the committee said it would focus on Mr Trump’s “state of mind” as he refused to admit defeat to Joe Biden in the presidential election of November 2020.

Mr Trump – who has lambasted the inquiry as a ruse designed to distract US voters from the “disaster” of Democratic governance – is widely expected to refuse to testify and fight the subpoena.

In a 14-page letter responding to the subpoena on Thursday, he once again accused the committee of failing to investigate his claims of election fraud.

“This memo is being written to express our anger, disappointment, and complaint that with all of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on what many consider to be a Charade and Witch Hunt, and despite strong and powerful requests, you have not spent even a short moment on examining the massive Election Fraud that took place during the 2020 Presidential Election, and have targeted only those who were, as concerned American Citizens, protesting the Fraud itself,” he wrote.

Earlier, on his Truth Social platform, he had questioned why the committee waited “until the very end, the final moments of their last meeting” to ask him to testify.

His former political strategist, Steve Bannon, also flouted a similar legal summons from the select committee to testify, and he was found guilty in July of criminal contempt of Congress.

During Thursday’s hearing, the committee showed never-before-seen footage of Congress being evacuated as the building was breached, and lawmakers being moved to secure shelters.

Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whose daughter filmed the video, is seen expressing shock when told that lawmakers in another part of the building were being told to wear gas masks.

She and other lawmakers in the clip desperately call military officials and the governors of nearby states in a plea for more resources to fight back the mob.

Mike Pence, Mr Trump’s vice-president, is heard on the phone speaking to Mrs Pelosi about how long it will be before lawmakers can return to the floor to resume voting on Mr Biden’s confirmation.

The committee also heard evidence that Mr Trump was aware he had lost, but encouraged the conspiracy theory about a stolen election anyway.

White House communications aide Alyssa Farah said in videotaped testimony that about a week after the election the president was watching the news when he said to her: “Can you believe I lost to this effing guy?”

The panel has spent more than a year interviewing over 1,000 witnesses, including Mr Trump’s children, his top aides and top military and police officials.

Under the committee’s rules, its lawmakers must produce a report of their findings. It is expected to be released in December.

Ms Cheney and the only other Republican on the panel, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, have become pariahs in their party amid conservative backlash to their participation in the inquiry.

She lost a primary election this summer for her Wyoming seat, and Mr Kinzinger has decided not to run in next month’s US midterm elections.

More than 850 people have been charged with participating in the riot at Congress.