Trump’s lawyers have accepted service of House January 6 committee subpoena

By Jamie Gangel, Gabby Orr and Annie Grayer, CNN

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have accepted service of the subpoena from the House January 6 select committee, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Trump and his lawyers have until November to 4 to turn over documents sought in the subpoena and until November 14 to testify at a deposition.

CNN has reached out to Trump’s lawyers for comment.

Trump has criticized the committee but not said whether he would comply with the subpoena. He did recently share a Fox News story on Truth Social that claimed he “loves the idea of testifying.” But Trump also could fight the subpoena in court in what would likely be a lengthy legal battle that could outlast the committee.

Politico first reported on the subpoena being served.

The committee announced on October 21 that it had officially sent a subpoena to Trump.

On the day the subpoena was announced, Trump’s attorney David Warrington released a statement saying, “we are going to be handling this matter as counsel for President Donald J. Trump. We understand that, once again, flouting norms and appropriate and customary process, the Committee has publicly released a copy of its subpoena. As with any similar matter, we will review and analyze it, and will respond as appropriate to this unprecedented action.”

The subpoena to Trump set down a marker and made clear the committee wants information directly from the former President as the panel investigates the attack.

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who serves as vice chairwoman of the panel, said at a recent Harvard event she assumes Trump will fulfill his legal obligation and honor the committee’s subpoena, “but if that doesn’t happen, then we’ll take the steps we need to take after that, but I don’t want to go too far down that path at this point.”

Unlike with previous subpoena announcements, the committee released on Friday the entire subpoena it sent to Trump along with the documents it is requesting.

“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power,” Cheney and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the committee’s chairman, wrote in the subpoena letter.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who serves on the committee, was asked last week if she and her colleagues are open to the former President testifying before the panel. She told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” that it’s “subject to negotiation,” but reiterated that Trump must respond to the subpoena first.

“We asked for the documents first, so that we can consider what additional questions we may wish to pose to him,” Lofgren added.

The panel summarized what it presented in its hearings to demonstrate why it believes Trump “personally orchestrated and oversaw” the efforts to overturn the election.

It said Trump “purposely and maliciously” disseminated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen in order to help his plan to overturn the election and to solicit contributions. The committee painted Trump as “orchestrating and overseeing” the effort to obtain false state electors. On pressure campaigns Trump enacted, the panel highlight said the former President attempted to “corrupt the Department of Justice,” by getting officials to make “false statements,” illegally pressured state officials to change election results, pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on January 6 “despite knowing specifically that it was illegal,” and pressured members of Congress to object to valid electors.

In its subpoena, the committee also specifically demanded Trump turn over any communications, sent or received during the period of November 3, 2020, to January 20, 2021, with more than a dozen of his close allies who have emerged as key players in the broader plan to overturn the 2020 election.

The subpoena also demanded Trump turn over any communications, sent or received during the period of November 3, 2020, to January 20, 2021, with more than a dozen of his close allies who have emerged as key players in the broader plan to overturn the 2020 election:

• Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser
• Roger Stone, a long-time Republican operative, pardoned by Trump
• Stephen Bannon, former Trump adviser, convicted of contempt of Congress
• Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former attorney
• Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official
• John Eastman, a conservative attorney who worked with Trump to overturn 2020 election
• Christina Bobb, a former One America News Network host and current Trump lawyer
• Jenna Ellis, a former member of Trump’s legal team
• Sidney Powell, a former member of Trump’s legal team
• Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney behind legal theories for overturning 2020 election
• Boris Epshteyn, a Trump adviser
• Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who worked with Trump campaign after 2020 election
• Patrick Byrne, a former Overstock CEO and election denier

The panel’s request for communications included Trump’s Signal communications. The committee also noted that it wants Trump to testify about his interactions with several individuals, including people on the same list, who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights when questioned by the committee about their dealings with the former President.

“This subpoena calls for testimony regarding your dealings with multiple individuals who have now themselves invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination regarding their communications with you, including Roger Stone, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, U.S. Army (Retired), John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and Kelli Ward,” the committee wrote in a letter to Trump.

In its most recent public hearing on October 13, the committee voted unanimously to subpoena Trump.

Ahead of that vote, Thompson said, “it is our obligation to seek Donald Trump’s testimony.”

Cheney said during the hearing that seeking the former President’s testimony under oath remains “a key task” because several witnesses closest to him invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to their interactions with Trump.

“We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” Cheney said, referring to Trump.

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CNN’s Sara Murray and Paula Reid contributed to this report.