Trump attorneys receive Jan 6 committee subpoena, report says

Mr Trump has not indicated whether he will comply with the subpoena

Attorneys for former president Donald Trump have formally accepted service of a subpoena commanding the ex-president to provide documents and give evidence before the House January 6 select committee next month.

According to Politico, the select committee’s subpoena for the ex-president was received on Wednesday by Matthew Sarelson, an attorney for Mr Trump with the Dhillon Law Group.

The report that Mr Trump’s team has accepted the panel’s compulsory process comes just days after it was issued by the select committee’s chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.

In a letter to Mr Trump, Mr Thompson and select committee vice-chair Liz Cheney said the panel had “assembled overwhelming evidence” that the ex-president “personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power”.

The letter laid out 10 separate aspects of that effort, alleging that Mr Trump – among other things – attempted to “corrupt the Department of Justice” by “soliciting and enlisting Department officials to make false statements and aid your effort to overturn the presidential election”, “illegally pressuring state officials and legislators” to change 2020 election results, “orchestrating and overseeing” efforts to submit false electoral cerfiticates to the National Archives, and “corruptly pressuring” then vice president Mike Pence to “unilaterally refuse to count electoral votes” during the 6 January 2021 joint session of Congress.

They also allege Mr Trump filed false information “under oath, in federal court” and summoned “tens of thousands” of his followers to Washington and “sending them to march on the Capitol” with the knowledge that many were armed.

“In short, you were at the centre of the first and only effort by any US president to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power, ultimately culminating in a bloody attack on our own Capitol and on the Congress itself,” they wrote, adding that the evidence the panel has gathered “demonstrates that you knew this activity was illegal and unconstitutional” and shows Mr Trump knew his allegations of fraud were false.

The subpoena to Mr Trump directed him to produce requested documents to the committee by 4 November and give evidence in person at a deposition set for ten days later, but it’s unclear whether the former president will abide by either deadline.

The ex-president has reportedly indicated to people close to him that he might be amenable to appearing before the panel if he is permitted to do so in a live, televised hearing. And although he has not publicly stated whether he will comply with the investigation, he has a history of fighting tooth and nail to avoid any circumstance in which he would be made to testify under oath, under penalty of perjury.