Dhe committee of inquiry into the attack on the US Capitol in January 2021 summoned ex-President Donald Trump on Thursday. It’s a rare escalation of investigations. Previously, the congressional committee tried to hold Trump more responsible for the attack with new evidence. “We have an obligation to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said in the subpoena.
After a break of several months, the committee of inquiry held a public meeting on Thursday – probably the last before the congressional elections in November. Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney of the Republican Party again blamed Trump for the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021. The evidence presented so far has shown that “the central cause of January 6th was one man – Donald Trump”.
If Trump doesn’t obey the subpoena, the House of Representatives could report him to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress. Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, for example, has already been convicted for this. However, time is running out. A new House of Representatives will be elected on November 8th. The committee must complete its work by the end of the year – before the newly elected House of Representatives begins its work in January. Even if Trump should follow the subpoena, he can refuse to testify.
“Let’s go straight to violence”
The session included video footage of Trump’s longtime confidante Roger Stone, a notorious political adviser. Stone says ahead of the November 2020 presidential election that he doesn’t want to wait for all voters to be counted. “Let’s move straight to the violence.” Reference was also made to Stone’s links to the extremist groups Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. Members of these groups were charged with seditious conspiracy after the Capitol storm.
The House of Representatives committee of inquiry had already held eight public hearings in the summer, in which Trump was heavily incriminated. Another hearing was actually planned for the end of September – but this was postponed due to Hurricane “Ian” and has now been made up for.
Hundreds of radical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol when Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election was to be finally confirmed there. The storming of the Capitol with five dead and around 140 injured police officers caused horror worldwide and is considered a black day in the history of US democracy.
Supreme Court dismisses Trump’s appeal
Meanwhile, Trump has suffered a legal defeat in the dispute over the evaluation of confiscated secret documents. The country’s Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an emergency appeal by the ex-president. Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court last week that a special auditor must have access to the classified documents. The court did not provide an explanation as to why it rejected the application.
In early August, the Federal Police FBI searched Trump’s villa in the US state of Florida. The FBI confiscated various classified documents, some with the highest level of secrecy. Among the thousands of documents, according to the FBI, were around 100 documents marked as secret. By keeping the documents in his private home after leaving office, Trump could have made himself liable to prosecution. The result was legal wrangling by the authorities.
Trump’s team was finally able to achieve success with the appointment of a neutral examiner. However, an appeals court denied the special auditor access to the documents marked as secret. Trump’s lawyers argued in the Supreme Court that the 76-year-old had unlimited power to declassify documents while he was president. Therefore, markings alone cannot determine whether a document is still classified or whether Trump has released it. Therefore, the special investigator must be given access to intervene in cases of doubt.
