Jan 6 committee may call on Trump and Pence to testify when they meet this week, report says

Investigation has proceeded for months with testimony from other witnesses

Lawmakers on the January 6 committee will discuss the potential of calling Donald Trump and/or Mike Pence to testify when they meet tomorrow in person on Capitol Hill.

CNN first reported on Monday that the issue of whether to ask the former president and vice president to testify would be on the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting. The panel is continuing to gather evidence as it prepares for a second round of public hearings set for later this month.

Neither of the men have received formal requests for their testimony thus far, which would be an unprecedented step for a congressional committee to take. But that could change given their very central roles in the effort to overturn the 2020 election.

The meeting is the first in-person gathering of the full January 6 committee since its members returned from the House’s August recess. In July, the panel hosted a series of public hearings that drew millions of viewers and laid out a damning case regarding Donald Trump’s actions in the weeks and days before the attack itself, as well as his reaction to the shocking violence.

Committee members are preparing for another set of hearings later this month. Some have expressed doubt about what the president could/would offer that other witnesses could not, and speculated that he will merely refuse to provide any testimony.

Whether former Vice President Mike Pence would offer testmony is a completely different question, however, given that he has publicly broken with Mr Trump over the issue of whether the entire scheme to overturn the election was legal at all.

Mr Trump faces a separate investigation into his actions related to January 6 being headed up by the Justice Department. On Monday, that investigation separately made its own strides towards centring its attention on the former president, issuing subpoenas and seizing phones in an action that targeted dozens of his current and former advisers at once.

The House committee investigating January 6 cannot charge Mr Trump with a crime itself but could issue a referral asking the Justice Department to review the evidence it collects for that purpose.