House January 6 committee ‘in discussions’ with Trump’s attorneys for him to testify under oath, Cheney says
By Zachary Cohen, Annie Grayer and Gabby Orr, CNN
The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection is “in discussions” with former President Donald Trump’s attorneys about testifying under oath in the probe, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the vice chairwoman of the panel, said Tuesday.
Cheney’s comments came days after CNN reported that Trump’s team formally agreed to accept service of a subpoena issued to him by the House panel seeking documents and testimony from the former president. Publicly, the response by Trump’s team has been limited to a rambling letter sent to committee members that attacked their work and declining to say whether Trump would agree to a sworn deposition.
Stil, Trump faces a Friday deadline to respond to the committee’s subpoena for documents, and a November 14 deadline for testimony. Cheney said during an event about the threat of political violence in Cleveland, Ohio, that the former President “has an obligation to comply,” but the panel has not yet made determinations about the format of his potential testimony.
“It’ll be done under oath. It’ll be done, potentially, over multiple days,” Cheney said, describing the committee’s preferences for Trump’s testimony. This is not a situation where the committee finds itself at the “mercy of Donald Trump,” she added.
Cheney’s comments are the first indication that discussions between the two sides have begun, though it remains unclear how cooperative Trump’s team has been. A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The panel subpoenaed Trump on October 21 seeking a wide array documents and for Trump to sit for an interview under oath beginning on November 14 and “continuing on subsequent days as necessary.”
A letter from the committee that accompanied the subpoena painted Trump as the central figure in the multi-step plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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