Trump: Committee a 'BUST': That's Why It Wants My Testimony Now (Getty Images)
By Jack Gournell | Thursday, 13 October 2022 05:29 PM EDT
Former President Donald Trump slammed the January 6 committee, calling it a "total 'BUST'" after it voted to subpoena him on Thursday.
"Why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago?" Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. "Why did they wait until the very end, the final moments of their last meeting? Because the Committee is a total “BUST” that has only served to further divide our Country which, by the way, is doing very badly – A laughing stock all over the World?"
The committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Trump, demanding the former president's personal testimony as it unveiled new video from his closest aides describing what it called his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss that resulted in the assault on the U.S. Capitol.
“We must seek the testimony under oath of January Sixth's central player,” said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee’s vice chair.
Trump is almost certain to fight the subpoena and decline to testify. Spokesman Taylor Budowich in tweets accused panel members of “partisan theatrics” and said, “Pres Trump will not be intimidate by their meritless rhetoric or un-American actions.”
In the committee's 10th public session, just weeks before the congressional midterm elections, the panel summed up what it termed Trump’s “staggering betrayal" of his oath of office
Under committee rules, the Jan. 6 panel is to produce a report of its findings, likely in December. The committee will dissolve 30 days after publication of that report, and with the new Congress in January.
House Republicans are expected to drop the Jan. 6 probe and turn to other investigations if they win control after midterm elections, primarily focusing on Biden, his family and his administration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.