Trump Tries to Avoid Testifying Yet Again By Suing January 6 Committee

Former President Donald Trump is suing the January 6 committee to counter the panel’s subpoena demanding he testifies on Monday, November 14.

In a 41-page complaint, Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump maintains “absolute immunity” as the former head of the Executive Branch and maintained that the subpoena was “unprecedented”: “While other Presidents and former Presidents have voluntarily agreed to testify or turn over documents in response to a congressional subpoena, no President or former President has ever been compelled to do so.”

The complaint said that Congressional subpoenas do not hold the same weight for presidents, due to the separation of powers. Trump’s lawyers argued, “The only possible exception to this absolute testimonial immunity—an exception which is itself hotly contested in academic circles—is for testimony in connection with the House of Representatives’ impeachment jurisdiction. But the Subpoena issued by the Committee to ‘President Donald J. Trump’ does not arise from an impeachment inquiry.”

Trump asked the court for a declaratory judgment that the subpoena was invalid, and cited a number of reasons, including that the subpoena infringed on Trump’s First Amendment rights: “He did not check his constitutional rights to speech and association at the Oval Office door.” 

The lawyers also argued that the subpoena was invalid because the January 6 committee itself was “not a duly authorized committee.” The alleged illegitimacy of the House panel is a repeated remark by Republicans; in June, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called it “the most political and least legitimate committee in American history.” 

The lawyers continued: “President Trump has been put in the untenable position of choosing between preserving his rights and the constitutional prerogatives of the Executive Branch, or risking enforcement of the Subpoena issued to him. Accordingly, Former President Trump turns to the courts to preserve his rights and Executive Branch independence consistently upheld by the courts and endorsed by the Department of Justice.”

The former president is also seeking an injunction “prohibiting the enforcement or the imposition of sanctions for noncompliance with the Subpoena,” as well as compensation for legal fees and “costs incurred as a result of the Subpoena.”

After Trump filed the complaint, Joyce Vance, former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, tweeted: “This lawsuit is Trump’s excuse to no-show for testimony on 11/14 without being in outright contempt of the subpoena & susceptible to prosecution like [Steve] Bannon & [Peter] Navarro. Regardless, the J6C leaves a clear historical record, Trump had the opportunity to give his side & refused to.”