Former President Donald Trump will have an extra week to meet a deadline to turn over documents to the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
“We have received correspondence from the former president and his attorney regarding the select committee’s subpoena,” Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chairman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Friday evening. ) in a joint statement. . “We have informed the former president’s lawyer that he must begin producing records no later than next week and that he remains under subpoena to testify as of November 14.”
The documents were requested as part of the subpoena issued by the committee to the former president on October 21. The subpoena also ordered Trump to testify under oath on or about November 14. It is unclear whether he will meet that deadline.
The committee’s subpoena lists detailed documents and communications Trump is expected to produce, including phone records, text messages or any communications related to January 6, 2021, including any exchanges with members of Congress and members of militias or extremist groups as for January 6.
Committee members have previously said they have not yet worked out how to compel Trump to comply with the subpoena if he refuses to voluntarily cooperate. Legislators could pass to disparage the former president. But legal experts and lawyers representing clients involved in the investigation told The Washington Post that it is unlikely the Justice Department will ultimately prosecute Trump for contempt of Congress.
The committee has yet to issue a criminal referral to the Justice Department, but Cheney and Thompson make clear in the letter conveying the subpoena notice to Trump that they believe his actions to overturn the election results were illegal. legal
Trump has told advisers he would potentially be willing to testify live before the committee, but his lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on the status of their possible cooperation.