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WASHINGTON – A Republican member of the Jan. 6 investigating committee said Sunday that live testimony from Donald Trump would require extensive negotiations on rules, and he expressed skepticism it would ever happen.
“I think that’s going to be a negotiation,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaking on ABC’s “This Week.” “I’ll only address that when we know for sure whether or not the president has tried to push to come in and talk to us live.”
Kinzinger noted that some Secret Service officials had supposedly pledged to testify, but “they have yet to come in.”
The Jan. 6 committee voted Thursday to subpoena the former president and his records, a move that followed a hearing in which committee members placed Trump at the heart of a conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election. Members said they said also want to talk to Trump about how his efforts led to the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
Slapping a subpoena:House Jan. 6 committee subpoenas former President Donald Trump
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Trump has not said specifically said whether he would fight the subpoena, but he did criticize the committee’s actions. In a 14-page public memo, Trump argued that the committee should be investigating problems with the 2020 election, not him.
The New York Times reported that Trump has been telling his aides he would consider testifying, but only “so long as he gets to do so live, according to a person familiar with his discussions. However, it is unclear whether the committee would accept such a demand.”
In his Sunday show interview, Kinzinger said “we want to speak to the president,” and “he’s made it clear he has nothing to hide.”
The committee may be racing against time; if Republicans win control of the House in next month’s elections, they would probably vote to disband the Jan. 6 committee early next year. Some committee members, including Kinzinger, won’t be members of the next Congress.
In Trump liable?:Jan. 6 committee zeroes in on central question: Should Trump be held accountable for Capitol attack?
In the meantime, Kinzinger downplayed the prospect that the committee might make a criminal referral of Trump to the Department of Justice, noting it is already conducting its own investigation. “The question of criminal referral really doesn’t have much of a point because, obviously, DOJ is moving forward on this anyway,” he said.
Pressed on whether the committee would hold Trump in contempt, Kinzinger said that “he should come in on the day we asked him to come in. If he pushes off beyond that, we’ll figure out what to do next.”
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