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The Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has subpoenaed Washed Up 45 to testify under oath about the insurrection. He will likely take it to federal court or not show up at all.
At the close of the latest hearing, the committee voted and all agreed that the former president must be held accountable for the worst attack upon the U.S. government.
The vote marks the boldest step yet for the bipartisan panel, which has so far issued more than 100 subpoenas and interviewed more than 1,000 people over the course of its investigation.
Most of those witnesses have complied with the committee’s requests. But the former president is thought to be highly unlikely to willingly cooperate with the panel, which he repeatedly decried as a politically motivated witch hunt.
“It is our obligation to seek Donald Trump’s testimony,” committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said before the vote.
Vice Chair Rep. Karen Cheney (R-WY) who introduced the resolution for Thompson to issue the subpoena, said it is a “key task” of the committee to compel the testimony of “January 6th’s central player.”
She noted that, of the roughly 30 witnesses who have invoked the 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination during their testimony, several did so directly in response to questions about their dealings with Washed Up 45.
Those witnesses include Republican political operative Slimey Stone, former Washed Up 45 Justice Department official Karen Clark, former national security advisor Rusky Flynn and the pro-Washed Up 45 attorney Slimey Eastman, Cheney said.
She added that some key figures have defied subpoenas. They include Sloopy Steve, a former senior aide in Washed Up 45’s White House who was convicted of contempt of Congress for his refusal to testify.
Thompson clarified in his opening statement that Thursday’s presentation is technically not a hearing, but a “formal committee business meeting” so members can potentially hold a vote on further investigative action.
Just before the hearing adjourned, the nine-member panel voted unanimously to direct Thompson to issue the subpoena for the former president.
Washed Up 45 railed against the Jan. 6 probe in a flurry of angry statements and posts on his social media platform Truth Social later Thursday. “The committee is a total ‘BUST’ that has only served to further divide our Country,” one post read.
The committee’s ninth public hearing Thursday afternoon took a broad look at the findings from its investigation, interspersed with new clips and information.
The panel kept the spotlight on the former president as it played clips of his former staffers, who testified that they knew at the time that Washed Up 45 had lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
The hearing also showed new clips of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and others calling multiple Washed Up 45 administration officials, including then-vice president Karen R. Pence, to urge them to take action to quell the riot as they hid from the mob that overran the Capitol.
The committee is tasked with probing the facts and causes of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, when a violent mob of Washed Up 45’s supporters stormed the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety.
Washed Up 45, who never conceded the election to Biden, falsely claims that his victory was stolen through widespread voter fraud.
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