Jan. 6 panel braces for collision with Trump

The former president has a fast-approaching deadline to attempt to block the National Archives from releasing records from his White House that could shed light on his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. And some of Trump’s closest aides have until Thursday to comply with a committee subpoena for their own records.

For a panel that has worked briskly but methodically to gather records from federal agencies and scoop up voluntary testimony from friendly witnesses, the expected fight from Trump is likely to be the first test of its legal and political muscle.

“I think it would be a mistake to say that we aren’t prepared for all of these eventualities,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), one of the panel’s seven Democrats.

One tripwire will come Thursday, when subpoenas to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, longtime Trump aide Dan Scavino and Trump-world figures Steve Bannon and Kash Patel require them to supply documents to the panel. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said Friday that he was prepared to issue “criminal referrals” to anyone who defied deadlines.

None of the four has publicly signaled how they will respond to the subpoena, and Patel has issued a statement criticizing the committee’s process. Repeated inquiries to representatives for Trump and to members of his inner circle about how they intend to respond have gone unanswered.

But committee members expect that these witnesses won’t willingly cooperate — one of the reasons the panel issued subpoenas without offering them a chance to voluntarily provide documents or testimony.

“The committee is determined to follow every conceivable end,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). “There were literally thousands of people involved in these events. So we’re convinced that the truth is going to come out.”

One reason for their confidence: Witnesses have begun coming forward to testify behind closed doors in transcribed interviews, a setup used by the House Intelligence Committee during Trump’s first impeachment. Almost exactly two years ago, the impeachment panel — helmed by Rep. Adam Schiff, who sits on the Jan. 6 committee today — broke Trump’s logjam when it secured a voluntary transcribed interview with veteran diplomat Kurt Volker. That led to a cascade of interviews with other State Department and Pentagon officials.

Members of the Jan. 6 committee are hopeful for a similar snowball effect now that their initial interviews have begun.

In addition, the panel, whose members meet daily either in person or via Zoom, has spent recent days insisting it’s ready to engage any recalcitrant witnesses in court.

“We’ll do whatever the law allows us to do,” said Thompson, when asked about how the panel…