“Jan. 6 Panel Votes to Subpoena Trump as It Wraps Up Its Case”

NYT:

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol voted on Thursday to subpoena former President Donald J. Trump as it presented a sweeping summation of its case placing him at the center of a calculated, multipart effort to overturn the 2020 election, beginning even before Election Day.

At what may have been its final public hearing and just weeks before midterm elections in which control of Congress is at stake, the panel knit together evidence and testimony from its nine previous presentations while introducing new revelations about Mr. Trump’s central role in numerous plots to maintain power.

The committee laid out in vivid detail how Mr. Trump, enraged and embarrassed that he had lost the election and unwilling to accept that fact, sought to join the crowd he had summoned to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, as it marched to the Capitol — knowing that some of his supporters were armed and threatening violence as Congress met to certify his defeat.

“None of this is normal, acceptable or lawful in our republic,” said Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and the committee’s vice chairwoman.

The committee also showed previously unreleased video from the secure location where congressional leaders hunkered down while the Capitol was under attack. The footage offered a glimpse of the shock and disbelief that gripped them as they urgently phoned governors and top national security officials in efforts to summon the National Guard or get Mr. Trump to call off the assault.

After nearly two and a half hours, the committee wrapped up with a direct challenge to the former president, voting to subpoena him to appear for a formal deposition, a step that is exceedingly unlikely given his refusal to cooperate in the inquiry, and could lead to a bitter legal battle.

“He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6,” said Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the committee’s chairman.

“He must be accountable,” Mr. Thompson added. “He is required to answer for his actions.”

The former president publicly attacked the committee, but has been telling aides privately that he favors testifying before the panel as long as he gets to do so live, according to a person familiar with his discussions. The lawmakers have rejected similar demands from other witnesses, but preliminary discussions among the panel members indicated more openness to a live interview with Mr. Trump.

Either way, the vote was an extraordinary turn of events given that Mr. Trump, who has made little secret of his eagerness to run for re-election in 2024, continues to exert heavy influence on the Republican Party, whose ranks are filled with election deniers who embrace the lies that inspired the Capitol attack.

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