Subpoena GOP leader McCarthy? Big decision for the January 6 panel

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s refusal to provide information to a bipartisan House committee about his call to former President Donald Trump during the Capitol turmoil is deepening the standoff between the committee and GOP lawmakers , forcing investigators to consider whether they can subpoena one themselves.

McCarthy was joined by two other Trump allies, Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, in denying the panel’s requests for interviews and documents. McCarthy, R-Calif., Dismissed the committee as an “abuse of power” and said he had nothing to offer.

There is “nothing I can give” to the committee, he said, as it investigates what Trump is doing inside the White House, and his state of mind, as hundreds of his supporters have violently pushed past the implementation of law on an insurrection to temporarily cease. the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the White House.

The stance of the three GOP lawmakers left the committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans with a tough choice: take the extraordinary step of subpoenaing their own colleagues or granting the requests, and disobeying their work. , which cannot be answered.

The committee leaders, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., And Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Said they were prepared to subpoena any witness important to the investigation. But in private, committee members are grappling with the potential legal and political complications of such a move. Although congressional ethics committees have the authority to subpoena legislators, there is little modern precedent for another committee doing so.

In a December interview with The Associated Press, Thompson said it was uncertain whether such a subpoena could be enforced because of the Constitution’s speech and debate clause, which says members of Congress will “not be asked elsewhere” for their words in any House.

“I doubt it, because of the speech and debate clause,” Thompson said. “There is no precedent for forcing that compliance.”

However, the committee did not exclude it. The committee publicly subpoenaed approximately 50 other witnesses and many more privately.

McCarthy acknowledged the call to Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, which occurred as Trump supporters beat police outside the Capitol and forced them into the building. But McCarthy did not share many details. The committee requested information about his conversations with Trump “before, during and after” the unrest.

McCarthy arrived on the floor of the House after the rioters were eliminated and said in a loud speech that Trump was “responsible” for the attack and that it was the “saddest day I have ever experienced” in Congress – even though he joined 138 other House Republicans voting to reject the election results. McCarthy soon negotiated, however, with Trump, who visited him in Florida and rallied House Republicans to vote against the attack investigations.

At Trump’s second impeachment trial, just after the insurrection, Democrats said they would try to call Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., As a witness. He described McCarthy’s call to Trump after hearing an account of it from McCarthy.

McCarthy told Trump to “stop the riot” in public and said the violent mob was made up of Trump supporters, not far left antifa members, as Trump said, according to a statement from Herrera Beutler .

“That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said, ‘Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are.'” Herrera Beutler said in a statement.

Finally, Democrats read a statement from Herrera Beutler on the record. Trump, who had just stepped down, was acquitted by the Senate of inciting insurrection.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, McCarthy said the conversation with Trump was “very short, advising the president on what’s going on here.”

The committee’s request also seeks information about McCarthy’s interactions with then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and communications with Trump and White House staff in the week after the violence, including reports of a conversation being “heated.”

In Wednesday’s letter, Thompson said the committee “should learn about how the President’s plans for Jan. 6 came together, and all the other ways he tried to change the results. of the election. For example, before January 6, you reportedly explained to Mark Meadows and the former President that objections to the certification of electoral votes on January 6 ‘will surely fail.’ ”

The committee recognized the sensitive and unusual nature of its request because it proposed a meeting with McCarthy on either Feb. 3 or 4. “The Select Committee has tremendous respect for the prerogatives of Congress and the privacy of its Members,” Thompson wrote. “At the same time, we have a solemn responsibility to fully investigate the facts and circumstances of these events.”

Despite opposition from some high-profile Trump allies, the committee on Jan. 6 interviewed nearly 350 people as it aimed to create a comprehensive record of the attack and the events leading up to it.

On Wednesday, former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany nearly spoke to the committee, according to someone familiar with the interview who was not authorized to discuss it in public. The committee subpoenaed McEnany in November.

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