With televised Trump subpoena, Jan. 6 panel asks voters for a second season
A TV reporter asks a question as Congresswoman Ilhan Omar testifies January 6 before a joint oversight and investigative hearing on potential interference in upcoming US elections, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Rep. Ilhan Omar was among the top recipients of subpoenas from President Donald Trump’s administration as Congress prepared to release its first batch of public impeachment hearings against the president.
The New York Democrat has repeatedly called for impeachment proceedings against Trump. In a fiery speech on the House floor last month, she said the House’s Republican leaders were trying to “silence” her. She and 13 other progressive Democrats joined with more than 200 House Democrats in voting for articles of impeachment against the president.
Trump’s legal team has been working on the hearings for weeks as part of a broader effort to pressure the House into approving charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The televised hearings include testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn, who’s expected to reveal in detail his conversation with Trump about the Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and the July 25 phone conversation at which Trump asked Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and from former national security adviser John Bolton.
The three congressional committees investigating Trump’s dealings with Ukraine have given members of Congress until Jan. 20 to respond to their subpoenas. Members of the House Oversight and Intelligence committees have until Jan. 19 to respond to their subpoenas.
In a letter sent to all members of Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the committees should “begin to receive witnesses” by Jan. 20.
“The committee chairs should begin to receive witness submissions by January 20, 2019. The hearing process will not be affected by this requirement,” Pelosi wrote.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Tuesday he expects to receive testimony from people who have knowledge of the matter from the committees investigating the White House, “as we work to get the facts and hold the president accountable