House Jan. 6 panel unlikely to call Trump, chairman says
Associated PressWASHINGTON — House investigators are unlikely to call former President Donald Trump to testify about his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, relying instead on interviews with aides, family and others who were close to him at the time. Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the nine-member panel investigating the attack, said Tuesday that it’s “not our expectations” to call Trump, whose supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol that day and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. Thompson said testimony from Pence would be “significant,” but that the committee is still speaking with the former vice president’s lawyers. Much of the evidence the committee has already compiled comes from interviews with former White House aides and staff, including thousands of texts from Trump’s final chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and two of the former president’s children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The committee last week subpoenaed House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and four other GOP lawmakers, seeking more information about McCarthy’s conversations with Trump the day of the attack and meetings the four lawmakers had with the White House as Trump and his aides worked to overturn his 2020 election defeat.