House panel issues subpoena to Trump

WASHINGTON — The United States House select committee investigating last year's Capitol riot issued a subpoena to former president Donald Trump on Friday.

The summons came after the House panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans voted unanimously to compel Trump's appearance before investigators.

It requires the 76-year-old Republican to produce documents by Nov 4 and to appear for a deposition beginning on or around Nov 14 — the Monday after the Nov 8 midterm elections.

"As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multipart effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power," the committee told Trump in a letter.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the committee and its members. He has also questioned the timing of the panel's vote to subpoena him.

On Jan 6, 2021, a large crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington, DC, and disrupted a joint session of Congress to affirm the 2020 presidential election results. About 140 police officers were assaulted. Authorities have linked at least five deaths to the mayhem.

It was the worst attack on the US Congress in more than 200 years, which led to Trump's second impeachment by the House of Representatives shortly before his term ended.

The letter accuses Trump of attempting to overturn the election despite knowing claims of fraud had been overwhelmingly rejected by more than 60 courts and refuted by his campaign staff and senior advisers.

Without confirming Trump had received the subpoena, his lawyer David Warrington said his team would "review and analyze" the document and "respond as appropriate to this unprecedented action".

President Joe Biden weighed in on the matter later on Friday during an interview with MSNBC, saying it "would make sense" for Trump to comply with the subpoena.

Steve Bannon, a one-time adviser to Trump, was sentenced by a judge on Friday to four months in prison for refusing to cooperate with lawmakers investigating the Capitol attack.

Bannon was found guilty in July on two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to provide documents or testimony to the House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan 6 attack. Prosecutors had sought a six-month sentence.

Agencies - Xinhua