In doing so, Trump defied a subpoena issued by the committee in October, Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, and Co-Chairman Liz Cheney, a Republican, said in a joint statement. “The truth is that Donald Trump, like many 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 said. The committee did not say what next steps they might take against Trump. Thompson told The New York Times in an interview that he would not rule out seeking contempt of Congress charges against the former president. “That could be an option. And we’ll have to wait and see,” Thomson told the Times. “The first thing we’ll do is see how we deal with the lawsuit. At some point after that, we’ll decide on a way forward.” Trump filed the lawsuit Friday to avoid having to testify or provide any documents to the Jan. 6 committee. The congressional committee has held a series of hearings as it seeks to publicize that Trump called on his supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, while lawmakers met to officially declare his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The subpoena ordered Trump to submit documents to the committee by Nov. 4 and appear for depositions on or about Nov. 14. On Nov. 4, he said he had agreed to give Trump an extension before producing the documents, but the Nov. 14 deadline remained in place. Republicans are expected to disband the commission if they win control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. Reporting by Tyler Clifford and Dan Whitcomb. Editor: Leslie Adler Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
