In another trial related to the Capitol riot on seditious conspiracy allegations that this time were lodged against members of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys, defense attorneys have unveiled a subpoena for Donald Trump himself in hopes of getting the ex-president as a witness.
It’s unclear that their hopes will actually be fulfilled, although the idea would no doubt be that Trump’s easily predicted dismissal of concerns about the seriousness of the extremists’ actions and ties to his own rhetoric and behavior could support their case. Already, prosecutors were able to show a clip from the infamous moment during a debate ahead of the 2020 presidential election when Trump said members of the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by.” Although those words could be ambiguous, some on the Right predictably took the then-president’s comments as essentially a call to arms, and in more substantive terms, the sentiment could provide a motivator for the seditious conspiracy prosecutors are seeking to prove. One could imagine, though, that in the perhaps unlikely event Trump actually testified he would dismiss the possibility he even meant much of anything at all.
Alan Feuer, a journalist with The New York Times, said observers should anticipate hurdles in serving Trump with the subpoena and a potential motion to quash, meaning throw out, the subpoena. Separately, Trump has spoken in frequently supportive terms about those facing charges in connection to the riot, although there’s a difference between his calls to free those detained in tandem with the violence and any willingness to actually subject himself to something like cross-examination in court on these defendants’ behalf. Currently on trial is a group including Enrique Tarrio, who is a former national leader of the Proud Boys, Dominic Pezzola, who helped with physically breaking into the Capitol as the breach of the building itself began, and Joseph Biggs, who a defendant responsible for one of the early rushes against police said in an interview with investigators pushed him to lash out.
That same defendant also helped undercut conspiracy theories about the involvement in the Capitol attack of Ray Epps, an Arizona Trump supporter who he said was pushing him against violence. Trump is currently heading towards his own trial in April on sexual assault claims from writer E. Jean Carroll. In that case, a judge recently rejected his proposal to provide a sample of his DNA for comparison against a garment Carroll has and on which an analysis was already conducted. Trump wanted additional materials from the past analysis in return. The entire arrangement could have substantially delayed the trial because the discovery period, in which Trump and Carroll were able to collect relevant information in the form of evidence and depositions, is already — generally speaking — in the past, so new scheduling would have been required.
Just in: Lawyers in the Proud Boys Jan. 6 sedition trial have issued a subpoena seeking to force Donald Trump to appear as a witness. Expect a) Troubles with service and b) a motion to quash. pic.twitter.com/av43rXSjhC
— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) February 16, 2023
