During an appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) — one of just two Republicans on the House committee investigating the Capitol riot — put certain fellow Republicans on direct notice. Kinzinger said that he “would expect” subpoenas for a “lot of people,” and he indicated that he was prepared to — if he felt such measures were appropriate — support subpoenas for Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), both of whom spoke with Trump around the time of the riot. The violence, of course, unfolded under the direct inspiration of the then-president’s utterly false claim that the election had been somehow rigged for Joe Biden.
Kinzinger commented as follows, discussing the investigation:
‘What we need to know is what happened, so if you look at it, what is it going to take to find out what happened — it’s going to take talking to a lot of people… We don’t want to drag this out, but we want to know — I think this is kind of like the shot we have as a country to get answers to what led up to it, what really happened, and what happened in the aftermath. So I would expect to see a significant number of subpoenas for a lot of people.’
Check out those comments below:
"It's going to be a thorough investigation, that's for sure."
EXCLUSIVE: GOP @RepKinzinger, one of two Republican lawmakers on the Jan. 6 select committee, tells @jonkarl: "I would expect a significant number of subpoenas for a lot of people." https://t.co/g2YZDNlfIS pic.twitter.com/KZmk0ycPBe
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 1, 2021
Specifically, on the subject of potential subpoenas for House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Kinzinger said that he would “support subpoenas to anybody that could shed light on” what Trump was doing during the riot. Both McCarthy and Jordan spoke with Trump on January 6, and on that same day, Trump stayed relatively quiet for some time as the violence unfolded. Eventually, Trump spoke out — but among those eventual comments, he justified what happened. As he put it, “these are the things and events that happen” when an election is stolen — although, of course, the presidential election was not in fact stolen. As for the potential of a subpoena for Trump himself, Kinzinger said that “if he has unique information that’s one thing,” but he thinks that “there’s a lot of people around him that knew some things.”
Watch below:
On bringing former Pres. Donald Trump in to testify before Jan. 6 select committee, @RepKinzinger tells @jonkarl: "If he has unique information that's one thing, but I think there's a lot of people around him that knew some things." https://t.co/g2YZDNlfIS pic.twitter.com/QEheYq6Dki
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 1, 2021
Asked about the possibility of certain targets of the subpoenas refusing to testify, Kinzinger said that he and the other committee members are “determined” to “get to” the truth. As he put it:
‘I intend at least on the committee to get to a full accounting of the truth, and if somebody thinks that they can stand up and use maneuvers to try to string this investigation out and hope that people lose interest and hope that they can resist — at least me, and I know the other members of the committee are determined that we are going to get to that answer.’
Watch below:
On what enforcement mechanisms the Jan. 6 select committee has to compel fellow congressmembers to testify, @RepKinzinger tells @jonkarl: "I intend… to get to a full accounting of the truth." https://t.co/g2YZDNlfIS pic.twitter.com/EFIuhRr1BB
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 1, 2021
