Jan. 6 Committee ‘Evaluates Next Steps’ After Trump Fails to Comply With Subpoena

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in support of the campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla), at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition in Miami on Nov. 6, 2022. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol is considering its next steps after former President Donald Trump defied a subpoena requiring him to appear for a deposition on Monday.

In a statement on Twitter, the committee said that Trump, 76, “refused to comply” with Monday’s deposition appearance and that his attorneys “have made no attempt to negotiate an appearance, and his lawsuit parades out many of the same arguments that courts have rejected repeatedly.”

“Donald Trump orchestrated a scheme to overturn a presidential election and block the transfer of power,” the statement read. “He is obligated to provide answers to the American people.”

“The committee will evaluate next steps in the litigation and regarding the former President’s noncompliance,” the statement added.

The House panel sent a subpoena to Trump last month compelling him to submit documents to them by Nov. 4, and to appear before the committee beginning Nov. 14. However, the panel later granted him an extension regarding the Nov. 4 deadline.

The democrat-dominated Jan. 6 Committee consists of just two GOP members, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Ranking Member Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), both of whom are outspoken Trump critics.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) campaigns with Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) at an Evening for Patriotism and Bipartisanship event in East Lansing, Mich., on Nov. 1, 2022. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Trump ‘Hiding From Select Committee’s Investigation’

In a separate joint statement published on Monday, Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Cheney accused Trump of “hiding” from the committee and its probe.

“Even though the former President initially suggested that he would testify before the committee, he has since filed a lawsuit asking the courts to protect him from giving testimony,” they wrote. “The truth is that Donald Trump, like several of his closest allies, is hiding from the Select Committee’s investigation and refusing to do what more than a thousand other witnesses have done.”

Thompson and Cheney did not specifically state what steps they might pursue against Trump; however, Thompson told the New York Times in an interview that he might consider contempt of Congress charges against the former president.

“That could be an option. And we’ll have to wait and see,” Thompson said. “The first thing we’ll do is see how we address the lawsuit. At some point after that, we’ll decide the path forward.”

Last month, a former onetime adviser to Trump, Steve Bannon, was sentenced to four months in prison by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, for contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions from or hand over documents to the Jan. 6 Committee.

Bannon was also ordered to pay a $6,500 fine.

Trump filed a lawsuit (pdf) on Friday seeking to block a subpoena issued by the House Committee to testify and hand over any documentation.

A large group of protesters stands on the East steps of the Capitol Building after breaching its grounds in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. Jon Cherry/Getty Images

Presidents Have ‘Absolute Immunity’

The lawsuit noted that while other presidents and former presidents have voluntarily agreed to testify or turn over documents in response to a congressional subpoena, “no President or former President has ever been compelled to do so.”

For half a century,  the Department of Justice has “consistently opined” that presidents and former presidents have “absolute immunity from compelled congressional testimony,” the lawsuit continued.

The lawsuit noted a formal opinion by Attorney General Janet Reno stating that this immunity is “absolute and may not be overborne by competing congressional interests.”

“Without limits on its subpoena powers, Congress could ‘exert an imperious control’ over the Executive Branch and aggrandize itself at the President’s expense, just as the Framers’ feared,” the court document notes.

“The separation of power concerns raised by congressional aggrandizement at the expense of the Executive Branch do not expire when a President leaves office,” the suit added.

The Jan. 6 panel has held multiple hearings regarding the breach of the U.S. Capitol as the joint session of Congress was certifying the 2020 presidential election results.

An investigation into the events of that day remains ongoing.