A subpoena asking former President Donald Trump to appear before a House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attacks would require him to agree to only appear on live television, one member said.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a congressman from Illinois who is one of only two Republican members of the committee, implied that conditions would have to be negotiated before the panel would agree to Trump’s terms.
Last week New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said Trump sources had told her from close proximity that he was open to meeting with the committee., but only “so long as he gets to do so live.”
“I think that’s going to be a negotiation,” Kinzinger said to ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “I’ll only address that when we know for sure whether or not the president has tried to push to come in and talk to us live.”
Kinzinger expressed skepticismTrump is rumored to have agreed to the subpoena order that the committee issued last Wednesday. “I have long learned in this that people will say something publicly” before choosing to do something else, the lawmaker said.
But Kinzinger also noted that Trump has said in the past that “he has nothing to hide.”
“So he should come in on the day we asked him to come in,” Kinzinger added. “If he pushes off beyond that, we’ll figure out what to do next.”
Kinzinger was not willing to say whether the committee would press for contempt of Congress charges against Trump if he tried to ignore the subpoena orders. “That’s a bridge we cross if we have to get there,” he said.
But the Illinois Republican also said that Trump would be breaking the law if he didn’t comply.
“We made a decision in front of the American people, not behind closed doors, to begin the process of subpoenaing the former president. He’s required by law to come in,” Kinzinger said.
It’s possible that Trump could be punished for refusing to appear before the committee, following the panel’s unanimous subpoena vote last week. Despite this, other individuals have avoided being chargedBy the Department of Justice (DOJ), Steve Bannon is an ally of the former president who briefly held the White House. was charged and convicted of contempt of Congress this summer following his refusal to comply with the January 6 committee’s subpoena.
Monday the DOJ submitted its recommendations for Bannon’s sentencingHe was sentenced to six months in prison and $200,000 in fines. Trump could face a similar sentence if the House votes for the same charges against Trump. Even if Congress is in control for the first time since January, the House can still recommend the DOJ to pursue those charges.
