Jan. 6 committee withdraws Trump subpoena, points to investigation’s ‘imminent end’

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol formally withdrew its subpoena to former President Trump on Wednesday, as the panel closes out its investigation.

“As you may know, the Select Committee has concluded its hearings, released its final report and will very soon reach its end,” committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a letter to Trump’s lawyer. “In light of the imminent end of our investigation, the Select Committee can no longer pursue the specific information covered by the subpoena.”

Harmeet Dhillon, one of Trump’s lawyers, celebrated the subpoena’s withdrawal in a tweet on Wednesday, saying the committee had “waved the white flag.”

“We were confident of victory in court, given precedent & refusal of prior presidents to testify in Congress,” Dhillon added. “J6 committee wasted millions for a purely political witch-hunt, total abuse of process & power serving no legitimate legislative purpose.”

The Jan. 6 committee unanimously voted to subpoena the former president in October, as it neared the end of its investigation.

“He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6. So we want to hear from him,” Thompson said at the time, acknowledging that the move was a “serious and extraordinary action.”

However, Trump was widely expected to dodge the panel’s requests to produce documents and sit for a deposition, and he sued to block the subpoena in November.

With the panel set to expire in the new Congress, the Jan. 6 committee held its final public meeting last week, recommending that the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate Trump on four charges: inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and obstruction of an official proceeding.

While another of Trump’s lawyers dismissed the criminal referrals as “pretty much worthless” — noting that the Justice Department does not have to follow through on recommendations from congressional committees — Thompson has said he is confident the DOJ will eventually charge the former president.

Special counsel Jack Smith was recently appointed to lead the DOJ’s dual investigations into Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 riot and his potential mishandling of classified documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago residence.

The committee’s final report, released on Dec. 22, reiterated the panel’s argument that Trump was at the center of an illegal effort to remain in power following his loss in the 2020 election and made several recommendations, including that Congress increase its ability to enforce subpoenas.

Several other Trump allies defied subpoenas from the committee, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The Jan. 6 committee recommended last week that the House Ethics Committee launch a formal inquiry into McCarthy and other representatives that refused to cooperate with the probe.