Jan. 6 Capitol riot probe subpoenas Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump was issued a subpoena Friday by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The committee, which voted unanimously on the move, is demanding Trump’s testimony under oath and records relevant to the probe into the 2021 attack on the Capitol and its causes.

Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Republican Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming in a letter to Trump cited what they called his central role in a deliberate effort to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election, and to remain in power.

 “As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power,” the letter said.

“You were at the center of the first and only effort by any U.S. President to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power, ultimately culminating in a bloody attack on our own Capitol and on the Congress itself,” the letter said.

The records being sought by the House committee pursuant to the subpoena are due Nov. 4.

The subpoena also says that Trump would be deposed on or about Nov. 14, after the midterm elections.

 The panel on Oct. 13 had said that it would subpoena Trump, whose supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 as a joint session of Congress met to confirm the election of President Joe Biden.

It is not clear whether Trump will comply with the subpoena.

In their letter to Trump, the committee’s leaders pointed to the fact that seven presidents had testified to Congress after leaving office, most recently Gerald Ford, a Republican. And at least two presidents, Ford and Abraham Lincoln, testified before Congress while serving in the White House, the letter noted.

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