The Jan.6 panel at a hearing in the Canon House office building, Oct.13, 2022 (Getty)
The parliamentary commission investigating the role of Donald Trump in the attack CapitolOn Thursday, its members unanimously summoned the former president to appear before him.
The nine committee members (seven Democrats and two Republicans) voted unanimously to issue a subpoena for Trump to submit documents and testimony under oath in connection with the attack.
“This committee will require the full accountability of any American person for the events of January 6 and, for that reason, it is our duty to hear Donald Trump’s testimony,” said committee chairman Penny Thompson.
He added that he realizes this passage is “extraordinary,” but noted that there is a precedent in American history for Congress To force the president to testify.
On January 6, 2021, supporters of the Republican president stormed the Capitol to try to prevent lawmakers from ratifying the victory of his Democratic opponent. Joe Biden In the 2020 presidential election, Trump continues to claim that these elections were “stolen” from him.
Federal law states that failure to comply with a subpoena is an offense punishable by one to 12 months’ imprisonment.
For more than a year, the commission has investigated the attack on the Capitol, which injured more than 140 policemen and killed several people. Since its inception, the commission has questioned more than 1,000 witnesses, including two of Trump’s sons, and examined tens of thousands of documents.
The committee intends to disclose information from “hundreds of thousands of pages” provided by the secret services, according to the parliamentary source. The parliamentarians want to know why the text messages sent on the day of the attack were canceled.
The investigative report is expected to be released later this year, but not before parliamentary elections on November 8, which will determine which party will control Congress for the remainder of President Biden’s term. However, a preliminary text can be published before the vote.
(AFP, Reuters, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)
