Trump subpoenaed by Jan. 6 committee for his testimony

Published 6:35 pm Thursday, October 13, 2022

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot took a broader look Thursday at the plot to overturn former President Donald Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

At the close of the hearing, the panel subpoenaed Trump for his testimony.

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Committee members kept Trump front and center as they stitched together some of the findings of their prior hearings with new clips and information. They put a spotlight on multiple former Trump staffers who testified that they knew at the time of the election that Trump lost to Biden.

The committee also played clips of Trump allies Roger Stone and Steve Bannon, who spoke prior to the election about how Trump might challenge the results.

The committee’s ninth public hearing could be its last investigative presentation in the ongoing probe. The hearing comes less than four weeks before the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

The panel is investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, where a joint session of Congress had convened to confirm Biden’s electoral victory over Trump. The rioters fought through lines of police officers and entered the building, forcing lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety.

New video clips showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and others calling multiple Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, to urge them to take action to quell the riot as they hid from the mob that overran the Capitol.

“We’re trying to figure out how we can get this done today,” Pelosi is seen telling Pence in a phone call. “We’ve gotten a really bad report about the condition of the House floor … defecation and all that kind of thing as well,” she said.

The clips showed Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also calling acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and asking if he can mobilize the National Guard to come defend the Capitol from the mob.

They are then shown calling Jeffrey Rosen, Trump’s acting attorney general at the time, and describing the violent scenes occurring elsewhere in the building.

“And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the United States,” Pelosi said.

“Why don’t you tell the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, in your law enforcement responsibility?” Schumer asked.

Pelosi also called then-Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam for help, the video showed.

Pelosi and Schumer are also seen in a huddle with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other congressional leaders during a call with a Pentagon official.