Jan. 6 Panel Plans to Subpoena Trump

WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol plans to issue a subpoena to former President Donald Trump to question him about his role in events that led to the violence that consumed Congress, according to people familiar with its work, a remarkable escalation as the panel begins wrapping up its inquiry.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chair of the committee, foreshadowed the move at the beginning of its hearing Thursday — possibly the panel’s final public session — saying that lawmakers could vote on “further investigative action” during the meeting. The people who divulged that the action would include a subpoena did so on the condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly in advance.

One of the people said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was informed of the plan, reported earlier by NBC News, before the hearing.

The plan emerged as the committee presented a sweeping summation of its case against Trump, including more details about his state of mind and his central role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Here’s what else you need to know:

— The committee presented evidence that Tom Fitton, an informal adviser for Trump who runs conservative group Judicial Watch, counseled the president days before the election to declare victory strictly on the basis of votes cast on Election Day, effectively asserting that lawfully cast early and absentee ballots should not count. In an Oct. 31 email, Fitton suggested that Trump declare: “The ballots counted by the Election Day deadline show the American people have bestowed on me the great honor of reelection to President of the United States — the deadline by which voters in states across the country must choose a president.”

— Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the committee’s vice chair, called Trump’s efforts to cling to power “a premeditated plan to declare that the election was fraudulent and stolen before Election Day, before he knew the election results.”

— It is still unlikely that the committee will have the chance to question Trump. He would be all but certain to defy any subpoena, and attempts to enforce one would almost certainly lead to a protracted legal battle.