Kinzinger says Trump would probably lie under oath to Jan. 6 committee

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Sunday said he saw little value in attempting to have Donald Trump testify before the committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol because he did not trust the former president would tell the truth, even under oath.

“Donald Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t mind not telling the truth. Let’s just put that mildly. He lies all the time. I wouldn’t put it past him to even lie under oath, so I’m not sure what the value is there,” Kinzinger said Sunday on CBS “Face the Nation.” 

While Kinzinger told host Margaret Brennan he doesn’t see value in having the former president testify in person before the panel, he said he would like to hear the perspective of former Vice President Mike Pence.

“I think it would be important to hear everything he has to say,” Kinzinger said, though he added that he wasn’t sure if he preferred a subpoena for Pence to testify in person or a request for a transcribed interview. “That said, I’m not sure we get a ton more out of him than what his staff has already told us.”

The former vice president’s chief of staff Marc Short testified before the committee in January. On CBS last week, Short said it would set a “very risky precedent” to ask his former boss to talk to the committee.

Kinzinger said Sunday that the committee’s eighth public hearing, scheduled for Thursday, is the end of this “grouping” but that he expects to have more hearings as new information surfaces.

“I think the thing to keep in mind is this: This investigation is not winding down. We may be towards the end of this tranche of hearings. We may have more hearings in the future. And the investigation is still ongoing. So we’re getting to the bottom of what we need to know,” he said.  

“As you saw with Cassidy Hutchinson, if we get information that the American people need to know, we may end up bringing up more hearings at that time too,” he said.