Thursday on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol, would not rule out subpoenaing former President Donald Trump.
Anchor Wolf Blitzer said, “Former President Trump just put out another statement attacking your select committee calling it, I’m quoting him now, ‘The January 6th unselect committee.’ He says once again, I’m quoting, ‘that people are not going to stand for your investigation.’ Beyond all the rhetoric, have you heard anything from the Trump, the Trump legal team?”
Thompson said, “No. All we’ve heard is from the president’s statements. But Wolf, everybody that I know, saw what happened on January 6. So clearly, that’s not who we are as Americans. If former President Trump thinks he can get away with what happened on January 6 by being cute with his press releases, then he has another thing coming. Our committee, bipartisan committee, takes our work very seriously, and we will pursue it. And so his attempt to deflect our work will not work. We will continue. We’ll be deliberate in how we do it, but I assure you, I assure the public, that at the end of the day, the committee expect full cooperation from everyone that we subpoenaed.”
Blitzer said, “What are the chances you’ll subpoena Trump?”
Thompson said, “Well, let me say, I appreciate the White House agreement to look at executive privilege and give us consideration on a lot of the information we want. A lot of what we decide on former President Trump is dependent on what we find in this information.”
Blitzer said, “I just want to be precise on this matter. I want to be precise. Are you ruling out or in the possibility of eventually subpoenaing Trump?”
Thompson said, “Well, I would say this at this point, Wolf, nobody is off-limits to a subpoena from this committee.”
Blitzer said, “I assume that means the former president as well.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.