US House Jan. 6 committee votes to subpoena Trump
The US House of Representatives committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol has decided to subpoena former president Donald Trump.
The House select committee's seven Democratic and two Republican members unanimously voted on Thursday to issue a subpoena for Trump to provide documents and testimony under oath in connection to his supporters' deadly attack on Capitol Hill.
"He is required to answer for his actions. He is required to answer for those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line to defend our democracy. He is required to answer to those millions of Americans whose votes he wanted to throw out as part of his scheme to remain in power," said the panel's Democratic chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson.
The committee subpoena is expected to reach Trump's hand within days, and would typically give the former president a date by which he should comply.
Thompson pointed out that he was aware that subpoenaing a former president was a serious action, but also argued that the stakes were high for the future of US democracy.
After listening to testimony by security agents and Trump aides, the House select committee reached the conclusion that the former president had planned to deny his 2020 election defeat in advance, failed to call off the thousands of his loyalists who stormed the Capitol, and followed through with his false claims that the election was stolen even as close advisers told him he had lost.
In the meantime, federal law states that failure to comply with a congressional subpoena is a misdemeanor, punishable by one to 12 months imprisonment.
If the committee's subpoena is ignored by the former president, the full House must vote on whether to make a referral to the Department of Justice, which has the authority to decide whether to bring criminal charges against Trump for not complying.
Back in 2020, Trump had claimed that he won the presidential election and that there was "massive" voter fraud.
He described the 2020 presidential election as “the greatest Election Hoax in history.”
The democratic process in the United States was badly discredited due to Trump’s claims in courts. A recent poll has found that at least 50 percent of Republican voters surveyed believe their vote will not be counted accurately the next time they cast a ballot.
The committee's Thursday's vote could be its last public action before the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine whether President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats or Trump's Republicans gain control of the US Congress.
On his social media service Truth Social, Trump slammed the panel, saying the subpoena had made the US a laughing stock across the globe.
"Why did they wait until the very end, the final 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 - A laughing stock all over the World?" he wrote.
Recent opinion polls have depicted a gloomy landscape for Democrats.
Biden has proven a disappointment for many who voted for him last year, with 16 percent of those surveyed saying he has done a worse job as president than they expected. Overall, 46 percent of Americans hold that view.
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