The previous president additionally criticized the Jan. 6 committee within the letter for not investigating his long-held, baseless claims of widespread voter fraud within the 2020 election and repeated his false claims that he gained the election over President Joe Biden. The committee has proven proof that Trump himself knew he had misplaced the election and had been knowledgeable repeatedly by White Home, marketing campaign and Justice Division aides that claims on the contrary have been false.
Trump additionally sought responsible the assault by his personal supporters on the Capitol — a bunch he assembled in Washington after which urged to march on Congress — on Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser. Trump and his allies have lengthy accused Pelosi, with out foundation, of one way or the other resisting the deployment of Nationwide Guard troops prematurely of Jan. 6. In actuality, safety selections have been primarily based on what legislation enforcement businesses mentioned was intelligence that there may very well be avenue violence, not a concerted assault on the Capitol. The choose committee has proven proof that a few of these businesses downplayed proof of potential violence towards Congress or did not go alongside ideas.
Trump additionally connected to the tip of the letter what he known as “determinative proof” that the election was stolen — a compendium of well-worn, discredited claims — and appended a number of pictures of the massive crowd of his supporters on the Nationwide Mall on Jan. 6.
He made no point out of whether or not he would adjust to the committee’s subpoena to testify, leaving the panel’s probabilities of acquiring his deposition unclear. A authorized effort to get Trump to testify would probably take far longer than the roughly two months remaining earlier than the choose committee sunsets on the finish of the present Congress, and the transfer to subpoena a former president is essentially unprecedented. Trump can be solely the fourth president to ever testify earlier than Congress. Just one former president since 1900 has been subpoenaed by Congress: Harry Truman, who defied the summons.
Though he gave no reply in his Friday letter, Trump has supplied small indicators up to now that he’s a minimum of contemplating talking to the Jan. 6 panel, together with a Reality Social publish earlier Friday morning linking to a Fox News article that reported a “supply near the previous president” mentioned Trump “loves the thought of testifying” earlier than the committee.
Nonetheless, the previous president seems unlikely to take the authorized threat of testifying at a time when a number of felony inquiries are pursuing proof of Trump’s and his allies’ efforts to subvert the 2020 election. He has beforehand declined efforts to testify in congressional inquiries associated to his conduct, together with the 2021 impeachment inquiry concerning the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, and choose committee members are skeptical that the previous president will adjust to their subpoena.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.