Trump’s Official Response to Jan. 6 Subpoena Is as Unhinged as His Truth Social Posts
The Jan. 6 committee concluded its final hearing on Thursday by voting unanimously to subpoena Donald Trump, the man Vice Chair Liz Cheney described as the “central cause” of what happened that day. The former president responded with a furious Truth Social posting spree, calling the committee a “BUST” that is dividing the country while pinning the blame for the violence on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who, unlike Trump, spent the riot trying to marshall forces to stop it).
Trump followed up his rantings on Truth Social with even more rantings beneath his office’s letterhead, sending a rambling, 14-page response to Chairman Bennie Thompson in which he does not indicate whether he will comply with the committee’s forthcoming request for testimony and documents.
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“Dear Chairman Thompson,” the letter begins. “THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!”
In sprawling, 14-page response to House Jan 6 Select Cmte, Trump doesn’t commit to an interview or to sharing documents… instead doubling-down on baseless election fraud claims, with mentions of “Antifa”, “Hacks and Thugs”, “Hoax”, “Fake News”… and an opening line in ALL CAPS pic.twitter.com/fOE2mRSwCn
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) October 14, 2022
It isn’t hard to imagine where it goes from there. Trump rails about the Russia investigation, his two impeachments, Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and more, while lamenting that the committee has ignored his “strong and powerful” requests to investigate the 2020 election.
Trump trots out all of his usual bogus talking points to cry fraud, including that he received more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016. The Democratic nominee did, too, by an even greater margin, but that is immaterial, apparently. He also wrote at length about the size of the crowd at the rally that preceded the riot at the Capitol, claiming it was “far bigger than anyone thought possible” and that the “massive size of this crowd, and its meaning, has never been a subject of your Committee, nor has it been discussed by the Fake News Media that absolutely refuses to acknowledge, in any way, shape or form, the magnitude of what was taking place.”
Images of the crowd occupy two full pages of the letter. Another seven are filled with dubious — to say the least — evidence that the election was rigged, which Trump describes as “determinative.” He then circles back to harp on Christopher Steele, Hunter Biden, and, yes, more unfounded allegations that the election was stolen.
“You have not gone after the people that created the Fraud, but rather great American Patriots who questioned it, as is their Constitutional right,” Trump writes. “These people have had their lives ruined as your Committee sits back and basks in the glow. The people of this Country will not stand for unequal justice under the law, or Liberty and Justice for some. Election Day is coming. We demand answers on the Crime of the Century.”
The Jan. 6 committee is expected to issue its subpoena to Trump sometime next week. The deadline to comply is expected to fall sometime after Election Day next month.
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