Jan. 6 committee will not let Trump’s testimony change into ‘a circus,’ Cheney says

Consultant Liz Cheney mentioned Sunday that whereas the Jan. 6 committee “anticipates” that former President Donald Trump will adjust to the subpoena the panel issued final week, “He’ll do not flip this right into a circus.”

Which means committee members will not be enthusiastic about Trump testifying instantly earlier than the committee in a public setting, as a number of previous witnesses, Cheney, R-Wyo., have mentioned. on NBC’s “Meet the Press”.

“The committee takes this matter very critically,” she mentioned. “And we’ll conduct the interrogation of the sworn former president. It might take days. And it is going to be accomplished with the extent of rigor, self-discipline and seriousness it deserves.”

Cheney mentioned, if and when Trump sits down for questioning, the format will not be like “his first debate in opposition to Joe Biden and the circus and meals wars grew to become. This can be a set of points. too severe. And we made it clear precisely what his obligations had been.”

If Trump refuses to cooperate with or resist the subpoena, Cheney mentioned, “We’ve got a number of options that we’ll have a look at.” However she famous that Congress’s necessities apply to everybody – not simply Trump.

“We made it clear within the subpoena a number of issues, together with that if he had any intention of becoming a member of the Fifth [Amendment against self-incrimination] that he needed to warn us about it,” Cheney mentioned.

The committee final week formally issued a subpoena to Trump after voting earlier to approve such a transfer throughout its last public listening to. Subpoenaing a former president is a uncommon, although not unprecedented, step.

The subpoena requires Trump to show over the paperwork by November 4 and seem inside a day or two of taking the oath of workplace starting November 14.

“We acknowledge that subpoenaing a former President is a crucial and historic step,” mentioned Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Cheney, committee chair and vice chairman, wrote in a letter to Trump on Friday. “We don’t take this motion flippantly.”

In response, a lawyer for Trump claimed the committee had “relaxed the requirements.”

“We perceive that, once more, with acceptable and customary requirements and procedures, the Fee has made publicly accessible a replica of its subpoena. For any related matter, we’ll evaluate and analyze it, and can reply appropriately to this unprecedented motion,” mentioned David Warrington, a accomplice at Dhillon Legislation Group.

In a sequence of hearings this summer season and fall, the January 6 committee cited a number of witness statements, paperwork and different paperwork from Trump aides and advisers in constructing construct a case he knew he misplaced to Joe Biden in 2020 however illegally tried to remain in energy whereas urging his supporters – a few of whom he knew had been armed – week marched to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, resulting in riots.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and accused the committee of politically terrorizing him whereas failing to current a protection of his actions.

Solely two Republicans sit on the panel: Cheney and Illinois Consultant Adam Kinzinger, each of whom are leaving Congress in January.

Kinzinger mentioned final week on ABC’s “This Week” that potential direct testimony from Trump would require “negotiation.”

“He has made it clear that he has nothing to cover, [that’s] what he mentioned. So he ought to come on the day we requested him to come back. If he goes past that, we’ll work out what to do subsequent,” Kinzinger mentioned afterwards.

The committee’s work is prone to be turned again and scrutinized if the GOP retakes the Home in November.

Cheney admitted it throughout an look on “Meet the Press.”

“If we had been in a rustic the place our politics had been working the way in which they need to, an investigation can be carried out,” she mentioned.

ABC Information’ Katherine Faulders and Trish Turner contributed to this report.