Is Donald Trump Facing Trouble In The January 6th Investigation?
Some people are suspicious about the former President Donald Trump's knowledge and involvement when it comes to the U.S. Capitol insurrection on January 6. There are some people, like Rep. Liz Cheney, who believes that Trump had full knowledge about what occurred that day — and did nothing to stop it. After former White House advisor Steve Bannon refused to comply with a subpoena asking to give up documents and testimony regarding the attacks, he was held in contempt, per The Independent. Bannon believes he and Trump should be protected under the executive privilege clause, which keeps secret certain topics that were discussed among a president and his advisers, per Cornell Law. Cheney believes Bannon and Trump's lack of cooperation "appear to reveal one thing," however. "[T]hey suggest that President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6th. And this committee will get to the bottom of that," she said.
However, there are some Republicans who want to push past this committee probe entirely because they believe it's more divisive than protective, like South Dakota Senate Minority Whip John Thune. "A lot of our members ... want to be moving forward," Dune told CNN. "Anything that gets us rehashing the 2020 elections is, I think, a day lost."
But the House of Representatives select committee that's investigating the January 6 events believes that Trump might face trouble once they get to the end of their probe.
Here's why the House select committee could find Donald Trump guilty
Some old colleagues of former President Donald Trump believe that he will not be able to get away with the Capitol insurrection that occurred on January 6. Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger was interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper on December 19, and he believes that the House of Representatives committee will have a "pretty good idea" about whether or not Trump is at fault. However, he wasn't ready to say whether or not he believes that Trump committed a crime. "I don't want to go there yet to say, 'Do I believe he has [committed a crime]'? I think that's obviously a pretty big thing to say. We want to know though, and I think we'll — by the end of our investigation and by the time our report is out — have a pretty good idea," Kinzinger said. "We'll be able to have out on the public record anything Justice Department needs maybe in pursuit of that."
However, Kinzinger does believe that "[n]obody is above the law," he said. "And if the president knowingly allowed what happened on [January] 6 to happen and, in fact, was giddy about it, and that violates a criminal statute, he needs to be held accountable for that."
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan denied Trump's request to block the committee from seeing records related to the planning, execution, and response to events on January 6, per Politico. That means Trump might be receiving a subpoena quite soon, much like his old team — Mark Meadows, Stephen Miller, Jason Miller, Kayleigh McEnany, and Michael Flynn — did.