Trump subpoenaed for ‘central role in a deliberate, orchestrated’ effort to overturn election

Issuing a subpoena to former President Donald Trump on Friday, the House committee that is investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol demanded Trump provide testimony and documents in response to the panel’s findings that he “personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”

The committee called on the former Republican leader to provide records of any phone calls, text messages, and other messages he sent and received on the day of the attack; records of his communications between November 3, 2020 and January 6, 2021 in which the election and the certification of the results were discussed; any communications regarding extremist groups including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who have been linked to the attack, and more than a dozen other types of related documentation.

The panel ordered Trump to turn over the documents by November 4 and to testify on November 14.

The bipartisan committee issued the subpoena days after its members voted to compel former president’s testimony and on the same day that his former strategist, Steve Bannon, was sentenced to four months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $6,500 fine for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the panel.

Trump did not appear before federal lawmakers during his two impeachment trials, but he has reportedly told his aides that he would testify before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol if he was permitted to do so live.

While the panel’s future is uncertain with the midterm elections just weeks away, outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), vice chair of the committee, said this week that the lawmakers will “take the steps we need to take” if Trump refuses to comply with the subpoena.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.