Former President Donald Trump said he “loves the idea of testifying” before the House Jan. 6 committee, a source close to Trump told Fox News. Trump posted a link to the Fox News report on his TruthSocial account without any additional comment Friday morning.
The committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol voted on Thursday to subpoena Trump following months of hearings alleging Trump played a central role in the demonstration, according to the New York Times.
“He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6,” said Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the committee’s chairman, adding, “He is required to answer for his actions.”
The night of the subpoena, Trump also posted that he would be responding to the committee “of political hacks & thugs” the next morning at 8 a.m. His link to the Fox News report came at 7:55 a.m.
Trump has also privately told aides he’s inclined to testify as long as he can do it live, according to an anonymous insider cited by The New York Times. Other witnesses subpoenaed by the committee testified in recorded depositions.
The only president previously subpoenaed by Congress was Harry Truman, and he did not comply, saying it would set a dangerous precedent for the separation of powers, POLITICO reported.
The Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena comes at a politically sensitive moment, with midterm elections next month and Trump still publicly flirting with a 2024 bid for president.
Other revelations from the committee’s likely final hearing Thursday included nearly seven minutes of footage of Congressional leaders organizing a response to the attack.
Also on Thursday, Trump dragged the committee’s investigation as “a hoax, a sham, a partisan witch hunt” intended only “to get publicity” in a Fox News Digital interview.
