Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, outlined to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in a new letter that he has until June 11 to comply with a subpoena from the committee demanding his testimony.
In the letter, dated May 31, Thompson remarked, in part: “Cooperation with our investigation would also give you the opportunity to resolve, on the record, inconsistencies in your public statements about the events of Jan. 6… For instance, you have offered inconsistent public statements regarding when and how many times you spoke with President Trump on Jan. 6… Accordingly, the Select Committee looks forward to your attendance at a deposition no later than June 11, 2022.” Jordan is one of five Republican House members, including House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), who the riot committee recently subpoenaed. So far, not a single one has conclusively indicated they’ll comply.
In Thompson’s letter to Jordan, the committee chairman noted that multiple federal court decisions have found the riot panel to be “duly constituted and empowered” — in contrast to right-wing arguments about the committee’s supposed lack of appropriate authority. It’s McCarthy’s own fault that there’s not further input from both sides of the chamber in the committee’s operations, which is something to which some opposing the committee have pointed — House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected two of McCarthy’s original choices for the committee, but he then punitively withdrew all of them, leaving the panel to members (including a couple Republicans) chosen by the House Democratic leader.
As reported on this site, a recent letter from a lawyer for McCarthy indicated he wants an explanation of the topics and documents committee members intend to use in a deposition, an overview of the committee’s argument for the legality and constitutionality of the process, a limit on questioning time to just an hour each for minority and majority counsel, and more — all before any actual testimony. Federal Judge Timothy Kelly is among those who’ve upheld the riot committee’s legitimacy in court. In proceedings surrounding a subpoena from the committee for records related to email fundraising campaigns of the national Republican Party, Kelly observed: “[T]he House views the Select Committee to be duly constituted and empowered to act… even though the Select Committee has only nine members.” He subsequently referenced the full House’s repeated adoptions of contempt findings made by the committee as evidence the chamber views it as legitimate.
The riot committee is preparing to start a new round of public hearings on June 9. At these hearings, members will be aiming to essentially lay out the case they’ve assembled regarding the riot for the American people. Among other points, it’s already repeatedly come up how closely Trump is, in fact, connected to what happened. The specific identities of who will be testifying at these imminent hearings don’t appear to have been publicly revealed yet.
