Washington January 6, 2021 The bipartisan House committee investigating the Capitol riot has taken the unprecedented step of issuing subpoenas to five GOP lawmakers, including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy.
Other MPs are representatives. Scott Perry (Pa.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Andy Biggs (Ariz.) and Mo Brooks (Ala.).
The committee had asked five members to appear voluntarily before the panel to answer questions about their knowledge of and involvement in former President Donald Trump’s effort to end his 2020 election loss, The day Congress had set out to certify the results.
Mississippi Democrat committee chairman Benny Thompson wrote in a statement, “Sadly, the individuals who received the summons today have refused and we are compelled to take this step to ensure that the committee is concerned about January 6th.” Uncover the facts.” “We urge our allies to obey the law, do a patriotic duty, and cooperate with our investigation as hundreds of other witnesses have done.”
The committee had earlier sent letters to all five members requesting cooperation in the investigation and detailing the relevant information they had. The committee’s release on Thursday referred to those earlier letters and briefly outlined what MPs could shed.
McCarthy of California, for example, “was in communication with Trump before, during and after the January 6 attack,” the committee wrote. “Mr. McCarthy also claimed that there were discussions with the president in the immediate aftermath of the attack, during which President Trump blamed some of the attack.
Perry, meanwhile, was “directly involved in efforts to corrupt the Justice Department and install Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general,” the committee wrote.
Jordan was only in contact with Trump on January 6 and was involved in strategy meetings about reversing the election, while Biggs participated in planning a protest rally Trump staged just before the Capitol attack.
And Brooks spoke at the rally, although the committee wrote, his staff had “meeted with members of Vice President Pence’s staff prior to January 6th and were aware of the idea that the Vice President would have one-sidedness from counting the certified electoral votes.” There is no right to refuse.”
Kent Nishimura via Getty Images
Members of the House under investigation by the House Ethics Committee have been summoned in the past, but it is unclear whether previous non-ethical investigations have sought to compel testimony from members of the House.
Committee members have previously reported that no losing president has ever tried to reverse an election before overthrowing American democracy. Nor has there been any violent attack on the Capitol, built to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one president to another.
On Thursday afternoon, McCarthy again attacked the investigation, as he had nearly begun the Congressional effort to investigate the riots. “I haven’t seen the summons. I think they sent it to you guys before they sent it to me. Look, my view of the committee hasn’t changed. They’re not conducting a valid inquiry,” he told reporters. .
If McCarthy and the other four members refuse to comply with the summons, the House can vote to hold them in contempt and send them to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
The House has already sent four of Trump’s aides to the DOJ: Peter Navarro, Dan Scavino, Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon. Of the four, Bannon has been charged and awaits trial.
A criminal contempt charge may not compel someone to testify, but it does make that decision more expensive, with additional legal fees and time to appear in court. If it results in conviction, it could lead to up to a year behind bars.
Trump, despite losing 7 million votes nationally and 306-232 in the Electoral College, became the first president in more than two centuries to refuse to hand over power peacefully. His provocation of the January 6 attack on the Capitol – his last attempt to remain in office – killed five people, including a police officer, injured another 140 officers and may have contributed to four police suicides.
Nevertheless, Trump remains the dominant figure in the Republican Party and is openly talking about running for president again in 2024.
improvement: An earlier version of this article listed Jeffrey Clark instead of Mark Meadows as one of four Trump aides that the House referred to the DOJ.
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