The 6 January committee did not conclude its ninth and possibly final public hearing by referring Donald Trump to the US justice department for criminal conduct – a move many, including some members of the panel, had urged.
Instead, it voted unanimously to subpoena the president to testify before the committee.
It was, effectively, substituting one symbolic action for another.
The decision of whether to indict the president for crimes relating to the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol rests with the justice department, not Congress. And the committee’s formal subpoena of the former president, while historic, is almost certain to be ignored by Mr Trump.
While the committee could vote to hold the former president in contempt of Congress, the clock is ticking towards next month’s midterm elections and what could be a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in January, when the committee would be unceremoniously shuttered.
Still, the vote to call Mr Trump to offer his defence made for a dramatic flourish at the end of what was another stinging round of accusations directed at the former president – one that included some never-before-seen footage from the Capitol attack and recently acquired documentary evidence.
committee is reviewing testimony and will consider whether some witnesses were pressured not to tell the full story about what the White House and the Secret Service knew in advance.
The Committee v Donald Trump
After the hearing concluded, congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland told reporters outside the room that he thought Mr Trump ought to take the committee up on its offer to testify.
“I would consider it a great honour and a privilege to testify if somebody accused me of trying to overthrow a presidential election and subvert the government of the United States,” he said.
Wry comments aside, the committee offered a concise summary of what it views as its case against the former president – that he had the means, motive and opportunity to attempt to undermine the peaceful transition of power to the presidential candidate who defeated him at the ballot box.
It was a case, committee chairman Bennie Thompson said, that was made not by the testimony of Democrats or Mr Trump’s political opponents, but by the former president’s own loyal staff members, senior advisers, executive appointees and Republican state politicians.
Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger reviewed the evidence the committee acquired indicating that the president knew he had been defeated but refused to cede power.
He presented testimony by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchison, who said she witnessed Mr Trump telling White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: “I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out.”
Congresswoman Elaine Luria of Virginia asserted that Mr Trump knew that the claims he was making about election fraud were false, but he persisted anyway.
Mr Raskin spoke of the president’s actions on 6 January and how he watched the violence unfold, was urged to intervene by friends, advisers and members of Congress, and refused.
In one powerful segment, he played new video footage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer pleading with the secretary of defence to send troops to quell the violence at the Capitol.
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At the end of the hearing, Mr Thompson again addressed the room and announced the decision to subpoena the former president.
“We want to hear from him,” he said. “This is a question about accountability to the American people. He must be accountable. He is required to answer for his actions.”
Within the hour, the former president had issued his reply, accusing the committee of being a “bust” and promising that his endorsed candidates would win in next month’s elections.
BBC
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