Former President Donald Trump was a no-show at his deposition for the January 6 Select Committee, leading the Committee to pursue “next steps.”
In a joint statement released on Monday (November 14), Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) expressed their dissatisfaction with Trump’s lawsuit filed on Friday (November 11) and accused the former President of “hiding” after he was a no-show at the deposition that’s been a month in the making.
In the statement, Thompson and Cheney call out Trump as the one who “initially suggested that he would testify before the committee” but noted that since the subpoena, the former President’s attorneys hadn’t made an effort “to negotiate an appearance of any sort.”
The pair added that Trump’s lawsuit is merely “to protect him from giving testimony” as it is riddled with “the same arguments that courts have rejected repeatedly over the last year.”
Instead, Thompson and Cheney argue in the statement that — like Trump’s allies before him — the former President’s efforts in recent days are just him “hiding from the Select Committee’s investigation.”
In the past, the Committee has agreed to extend deadlines for those who have cooperated with it. But, for those who’ve defied subpoenas, like former White House strategist Stephen Bannon, it’s voted to hold in contempt of Congress.
The Committee gave no indication which route it would pursue with Trump, rather highlighting that it will “evaluate next steps in the litigation” and, in the coming days, what it will do in terms of Trump’s “non-compliance.”
The Committee is running out of time and options. Since it is expected to end during this sitting of Congress, and very little chance Republicans revive it with their anticipated House majority, it would have to act quickly if it still expects to compel Trump to act.
