J6 Committee – In A Unanimous 9-0 Vote – Subpoenas Trump To Provide Testimony
Supreme Court votes 9-0 to reject Trump's request to intervene in stolen classified documents litigation.
Donald Trump was on the losing side of two 9-0 votes on Thursday afternoon: the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection voted unanimously to subpoena Trump as part of its investigation and the Supreme Court unanimously rejected Trump’s request to intervene in the litigation over the classified documents he stole from the US government.
The Supreme Court needed only 35 words to reject Trump.
It is illegal to refuse to comply with a congressional subpoena. Trump could challenge the subpoena in court, a process that would last into 2023, when the Republicans could have control of the House and shut down the entire investigation. However, Trump’s argument of executive privilege has been easily crushed into dust in the classified documents case — because he is a private citizen now — so he possesses no actual defense.
An 1857 law says failure to comply with a congressional subpoena for testimony or documents is punishable by one to 12 months imprisonment.
First, the House of Representatives or the Senate must vote to hold a non-compliant witness in “contempt of Congress” and refer that person to the U.S. Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
The Justice Department then decides whether to bring criminal charges.
Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $200,000 after being found guilty of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. He is due to be sentenced on Oct. 21.
Another former Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, has also been charged with contempt of Congress and faces trial in November.
There was a report tonight that Trump wants to testify if it’s a live broadcast. If the Committee called his bluff, would Trump actually answer questions or would he repeatedly invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination? Or would he invent some other reason to back out? But (assming that report is true) why would he insist on a live broadcast if all he was going to do was take the Fifth? My plea to the Committee: Agree to his terms, but also reserve the ability to cut his microphone when he inevitably rambles off-topic.
This is a long post. As you read it, please keep in mind that every Republican in Congress and the House opposed any investigation of the events before and on January 6. Every. Single. One.
Seth Abramson, author of the Proof series, live-tweeted Thursday’s hearing, posting over 200 tweets. Here are a few of them:
Abramson points out in a different thread (my emphasis):
I’m noticing an interesting trend here: the less a journalist knows about what happened inside the Trump White House on and before January 6, the more likely they are to imply—preposterously—that it is at all plausible that Trump will voluntarily agree to testify before Congress.
Donald Trump will never voluntarily testify . . . in any legal proceeding anywhere. . . .
To date there’s no evidence whatsoever that any federal entity is willing to expend any serious energy to get Donald Trump to do [what] every other American citizen in his situation would be forced to do, which is testify truthfully or plead the Fifth Amendment. . . .
Trump is *currently* above the law. . . . It will take an *extraordinary* shift in American institutions for Donald Trump to be held accountable for his heinous criminal offenses, which are categorically the worst we have ever seen from an American politician. Right now the odds are strongly against this coming to pass.
Other tweets, many with video clips, in chronological order (more or less):
