The House select committee members investigating the attack on the United States Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 are split on whether or not they should allow former President Donald Trump to appear live on television to give a deposition.
The January 6th committee had its last hearing. Voted unanimously to subpoena Trump. After doing so, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said that people close to Trump said he wanted to comply with their order to testify — but only if he could do so during another live hearing.
“The former president has been telling aides he favors doing so, so long as he gets to do so live, according to a person familiar with his discussions,” Haberman reported.
According to other reports, Trump’s advisers are We urge him to resist the subpoena orders and not appear for depositionsHowever, the former president seems to be committed to speaking to the committee as long as he appears live on TV.
Some members of the committee are wary of Trump’s testimony under these conditions. ABC NewsReport on Monday. Trump could take advantage of this opportunity to keep making false election fraud claims, and to downplay his role in the plot against the 2020 presidential election.
But “there appears to be more of an openness among committee members to have him appear live,” ABC News reported.
Trump could perjure his testimony and tell the committee a lie which he knows is false. This could result in him being charged with a felony. It is against the law “to make false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements before any department or agency of the United States, including congressional committees,” although a perjury charge is limited to statements that relate to the purpose of the committee’s work.
Even with these exceptions in mind Trump’s responseSome legal experts believe that if the former president said something aloud during his deposition it would lead to a perjury case.
Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, noted that Trump’s response, which contained many falsehoods and errant accusations about the committee itself, wouldn’t be deemed protected speech under federal perjury laws.
“Trump’s rambling non-responsive response is no substitute for testimony under oath,” Tribe said on Twitter. “If he swore to much of what [his] BS reply says, he’d be guilty of perjury.”
The committee hasn’t yet given an official response to the possibility of Trump giving a live deposition, but some members of the panel, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois), have discussed the idea.
Appearing on ABC News’s “This Week” program on Sunday, Kinzinger said that any live appearances by Trump would require “a negotiation”between the committee members and his legal team. Kinzinger is also skeptical regarding the reports and believes that Trump may change his mind.
“I have long learned in this that people will say something publicly” before choosing to do something else, Kinzinger said.
