9:54 a.m. ET, October 14, 2022
Trump was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee. What happens now?
Analysis From CNN's Zachary B. Wolf
The House Jan. 6 committee took the extraordinary and theatrical step of
voting to subpoena former President Donald Trump on Thursday.
A coda to its public hearings, the
subpoena might not lead to Trump’s testimony and handing over of documents, but it will act as a teaser for what’s to come.
The committee still has a report to publish and could also request that the Justice Department pursue charges against Trump or his former aides for their roles in helping to incite the attack on the Capitol and their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
What happens now? Trump could decide to comply. The committee would then negotiate a time, place and method. That would take time.
- Contempt. The full House, which is controlled by Democrats until at least January, could vote to hold him in contempt of Congress, something it’s done with several other uncooperative witnesses.
- Referral. After a contempt of Congress referral, the Justice Department could then prosecute, as it did with Trump’s former aide Steve Bannon and plans to do with his once economic adviser Peter Navarro.
- Prosecution. If found guilty, as Bannon was, Trump could theoretically face a minimum of 30 days in jail. Bannon will be sentenced for failing to comply with the House subpoena later this month.
This sequence of events seems far-fetched for Trump.
“None of that is going to happen,” the Trump critic and conservative lawyer George Conway predicted during an appearance on CNN on Thursday. “This is about laying a marker. This is about triggering a response [from Trump].”
Trump
responded on social media, calling the committee a “BUST” and a “laughing stock” and accusing members of dividing the country.
Conway did point out the Supreme Court has already made clear where it stands on Trump’s status as a former president when it
ignored his attempt to block the National Archives from sharing information with the committee.
The court, notably, also
declined on Thursday to intervene on Trump’s behalf in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents inquiry.
But the Justice Department, rather than go after Trump for ignoring a congressional subpoena, if it comes to that, has arguably larger and more important inquiries that involve his treatment of classified documents after he left the White House and his effort to overturn the election as president.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said the Jan. 6 committee feels it has enough information to make referrals to the Department of Justice for prosecutions stemming from the committee’s work. And she noted that more than 30 witnesses have invoked Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination with regard to their dealings with the former President.