The House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot said former President Donald Trump “did not comply” with its subpoena for documents and testimony.
“In the coming days, the committee will assess the next steps in the litigation and regarding the former President’s non-compliance,” they said in a statement.
The commission has previously held witnesses in contempt of Congress for defying the task force’s subpoenas, but has little ability to enforce subpoena compliance quickly through the courts.
Trump sued the commission on Nov. 11 as a way to challenge its subpoena, according to filings in federal court in Florida. His suit sought to both challenge the commission’s legality — which several courts have upheld — and claim he should be immune from testifying about his time as chairman.
Thompson and Cheney said in their statement Monday, “[Trump’s] Attorneys have made no attempt to negotiate an appearance of any kind, and his lawsuit makes many of the same arguments that the courts have repeatedly rejected over the past year.”
Trump’s lawyers said in court filings that they contacted the House in the past week and a half as subpoena deadlines loomed, offering to consider answering written questions while expressing “concerns and objections” to most of the document requests. After Trump missed his first deadline to produce documents on Nov. 4, his team responded on Nov. 9, according to court documents, saying he would not testify and found no records to hand over about personal communications.
“The truth is that Donald Trump, like several of his closest allies, is hiding from the Select Committee’s investigation and refusing to do what more than a thousand other witnesses have done,” Thompson and Cheney wrote. “Donald Trump orchestrated a plan to overturn the presidential election and block the transfer of power. He has an obligation to give answers to the American people.”
The committee subpoenaed Trump on Oct. 21, asking for documents by Nov. 4 and testimony by Nov. 14. When the former president did not deliver documents by the first deadline, Thompson accused Trump’s team of trying to delay, according to court documents.
“Given the timing and nature of your letter — without any acknowledgment that Mr. Trump will ultimately comply with the subpoena — your approach on his behalf appears to be a delaying tactic,” Thompson wrote.
In Trump’s lawsuit, his lawyers argued, “the subpoena’s request for testimony and documents from President Trump is an unwarranted intrusion into the institution of the Presidency because there are other sources of the requested information, including the thousands-plus witnesses contacted by the Commission and one million documents collected by the Commission’.
Trump said in the lawsuit that the House demands, if granted, would violate privilege protections surrounding the executive branch, including revealing conversations he had with Justice Department officials and members of Congress about the 2020 election and “pending government work”.
He also argued in court that he should not have to disclose his inner workings regarding the 2020 presidential campaign, “including his political beliefs, strategy and fundraising. President Trump did not check his constitutional rights at the Oval Office door. Because the Commission’s subpoena to President Trump violates his First Amendment rights, it is invalid.”
Trump’s attorney, David Warrington, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit in part that “long-standing precedent and practice hold that the separation of powers prohibits Congress from compelling a President to testify before it.”
Trump’s exchange with the House followed by the lawsuit will make it much more difficult for the committee to execute the subpoena — and the dispute will be effectively unresolved before the current Congress ends in January.
