U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges, who were both injured defending the Capitol and members of Congress on January 6, 2021, watch as the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol play a video of former President Donald Trump declaring that he won the presidential election on election night of 2020 during their public hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 13, 2022.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump during Thursday’s public hearing.
The move to subpoena Trump has been under consideration for some time, sources familiar with the committee’s plans told NBC News before the vote.
The vote marks the boldest step yet for the bipartisan panel, which has so far issued more than 100 subpoenas and interviewed more than 1,000 people over the course of its investigation.
Most of those witnesses have complied with the committee’s requests, though a few have defied subpoenas for their testimony. Steve Bannon, a former senior aide in Trump’s White House, was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena to testify.
Trump is thought to be highly unlikely to willingly cooperate with the committee, which he repeatedly decried as a politically motivated witch hunt.
Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., clarified in his opening statement that Thursday’s presentation is technically not a hearing, but a “formal committee business meeting” so members can potentially hold a vote on further investigative action.
A spokesman for the select committee did not immediately confirm the reported plan to vote to subpoena the former president. A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately comment on NBC’s reporting.
The committee’s ninth public hearing, which was ongoing early Thursday afternoon, took a broad look at the findings from their investigation, interspersed with new clips and information.
The nine-member panel kept the spotlight on Trump as it played clips of his former staffers, who testified that they knew at the time that Trump had lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
The committee is tasked with probing the facts and causes of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, when a violent mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
