Trump files lawsuit attempting to block Jan. 6 committee subpoena

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump is suing the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to avoid cooperating with a subpoena asking him to testify.

The lawsuit filed Friday night alleges that, while former presidents have voluntarily agreed to provide testimony or documents in response to congressional subpoenas in the past, “no president or No former president was forced to do so.”

Trump’s attorney David A. Warrington said in a statement announcing Trump’s intentions: “Longstanding practice and precedent shows that separation of powers prohibits Congress from forcing the President to testify before Congress. “.

Warrington said Trump engaged with the committee “in a good faith effort to address these concerns consistent with the Executive Branch’s prerogatives and separation of powers,” but said the panel “resolutely follows pursuing a political path, leaving President Trump with no choice but to get involved.” the third branch, the judicial branch, in this dispute between the executive and legislative branches.”

The committee declined to comment on the filing, which comes days before a deadline set by the committee for Trump to begin cooperation. But the lawsuit could preclude Trump from having a hearing, as the committee is expected to dissolve at the end of the legislative session in January.

It also comes just days before Trump is expected to officially launch his third presidential campaign at his Mar-Lago club.

RELATED: The January 6 panel subpoenaed Trump, asking him to testify

The committee voted to summon Trump during the final televised hearing ahead of the midterm elections and formally did so last month, requesting testimony from the former president on Capitol Hill or via videoconference. mid-November and continue for as many days as needed.

The letter also outlined a sweeping request for documents, including personal communications between Trump and members of Congress as well as extremist groups. Trump’s response to that request was due last week, but the nine-member panel extended the deadline to this week.

In his case, Trump’s attorneys attacked the subpoena as too broad and considered it a violation of his First Amendment rights. They also argued that sources other than Trump could provide the same information the committee wanted from him.

The panel – which includes seven Democrats and two Republicans – released a statement last week saying it was in contact with Trump’s attorneys.

Trump’s decision to subpoena Trump in late October by the committee was a major escalation in their investigation, a step that lawmakers deemed necessary because, the members allege, the former the president is the “central man” in the majority effort to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

“I think he has a legal obligation to testify but that doesn’t always carry weight with Donald Trump,” the committee’s vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a statement. an event last week.

In addition to asking Trump to testify, the committee also made 19 requests for documents and communications — including any messages Trump sends on the encrypted messaging app Signal or by “any means any other” to members of Congress and others about the shocking events of the election. On January 6, 2021, the Capitol was attacked.

The scope of the committee’s request has been expanded — pursuing documents from September 1, 2020, two months before the election, to the present about the president’s communications with groups such as The Keepers the oath and the Proud Boys — as the council sought to compile a historical record of the attack before the attack on the Capitol, the event itself, and the aftermath.

Trump’s lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Florida, where other Trump attorneys successfully sued for a special master who was tasked with conducting an independent review of the filings filed by Trump. FBI seized during a search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8.

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