WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump voted unanimously on Thursday to subpoena the former president, a move that could lead to criminal charges if he doesn’t comply.
The seven Democratic and two Republican members of the House Select Committee voted 9-0 to subpoena Trump for documents and sworn testimony related to the Capitol storming.
“He must be held accountable. He is held accountable for his actions. He is held accountable for those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line to defend our democracy. He is held accountable to ‘those millions of Americans whose votes he wanted to expel as part of his plan to stay in power,’ said the panel’s Democratic chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson.
Register now for FREE, unlimited access to Reuters.comRegister
The vote came after the committee spent more than two hours making its case — through member statements, documents and taped testimony — that Trump planned to deny his 2020 election defeat in advance, failed to summon the thousands of supporters who stormed the Capitol. , and continued his false claims that the election was stolen even when close advisers told him he had lost.
Federal law says that failure to comply with a congressional subpoena is a misdemeanor, punishable by one to 12 months in prison. If the select committee’s subpoena is ignored, the full House must vote on whether to make a referral to the Justice Department, which has the authority to decide whether to press charges.
DOT MEDIA TERMS
The subpoena is expected in a few days, and would normally give Trump a date by which he would have to comply. It was not clear when the full House – which is out of Washington until mid-November – could vote on whether to propose a criminal referral.
Trump responded to the vote with angry comments on his social media service Truth Social. “Why did they wait until the end, the last moments of their last meeting? Because the Committee is a total ‘BUST’ that has only served to further divide our Country which, by the way, is doing very badly -Una laugh. all over the world?” He wrote
A former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon, is due to be sentenced next week after a jury found him guilty of contempt of Congress on charges of failing to comply with a committee subpoena. But the Justice Department declined to charge another, Mark Meadows, who the House had also suggested should be prosecuted.
Federal prosecutors are also investigating the former president’s removal of classified documents from the White House at the end of his term, and have warned that they do not believe they have yet recovered all the documents taken.
The House Select Committee has been investigating the Capitol attack, which left more than 140 police officers injured and several dead, for more than a year, interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses.
The US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol meets for a hearing at the Cannon House office building in Washington, US, October 13, 2022. Alex Wong/Pool via REUTERS
Read more
Thompson said he recognized that subpoenaing a former president was a serious action, but argued that much was at stake for the future of American democracy.
Thursday’s meeting followed eight hearings earlier this year and one in July 2021. There was no live testimony Thursday, but the panel presented videotaped testimony to build a case that Trump’s efforts to annul his defeat in the November 2020 presidential election constituted illegal conduct, far beyond the ordinary. politics.
FEAR OF VIOLENCE
The committee presented evidence from Secret Service agents and intelligence officials who said before Jan. 6 that they expected violence at the pro-Trump rally and believed there were weapons caches in Washington.
“His plan is to literally kill people. Please take this advice seriously and investigate further,” said a Dec. 26 Secret Service email.
Thursday’s vote could be the committee’s last public action before the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine whether President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats or Trump’s Republicans control Congress.
The committee is also due to release a report on its findings in the coming weeks.
Representative Liz Cheney, the panel’s Republican vice chairwoman, said the panel could ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the Justice Department.
Hearings held this year may have convinced some Republicans that Trump is responsible for the attack. A two-day Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded Wednesday showed that two in five Republicans believe Trump is at least partially responsible for the attack.
Earlier hearings focused on Trump’s inaction before and during the Capitol storming, his pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to deny Biden a victory, the militias whose members participated in the attack and the Trump’s interactions with close advisers who questioned his false allegations of massive voter fraud.
The former reality TV star has denied wrongdoing and has hinted that he will seek the White House again in 2024. He regularly holds rallies where he continues to falsely claim that he lost the election due to widespread fraud.
More than 880 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, with more than 400 guilty pleas to date.
Register now for FREE, unlimited access to Reuters.comRegister
Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Moira Warburton and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone, Aurora Ellis and Rosalba O’Brien
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.