Trump rejects House 'unlawful' subpoena, claims 'absolute immunity'

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The subpoena by the January 6 House Committee was rejected on Friday by former US President Donald Trump - claiming he has "absolute immunity" and does not plan to testify in court.

Labeling the subpoena as "invalid, unlawful and unenforceable," Trump's legal team claimed that their client still has executive privilege even after having left the White House 22 months later. 

"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," the Committee wrote in a letter last month to Trump. 

The subpoena summoned Trump to appear for a deposition by Monday, to present extensive  documents connected to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. Trump has other fish to fry; with the ballots still rolling in from the midterm elections, it is still not yet clear if the Republicans will control the House as he prepares to possibly announce his presidential candidacy on Tuesday.

He may however have an advantage if Republicans do take the majority since they potentially might dissolve the January 6 Committee which, in turn, will lead to the fallout of the cases against him. 

Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of homeland security, expressed that the cases "left no doubt - none - that Donald Trump led an effort to upend American democracy."

More than 900 people have been indicted with crimes related to the Capitol riots, alongside the Justice Department stating last month that 412 people have pleaded guilty to federal charges brought against them.

Steve Bannon, a former White House aide, was sentenced to prison for 6 months, and assigned more than $200,000 in fines over charges of contempt in Congress. Bannon was the only target convicted of contempt for his refusal to comply; subpoenas have been proven difficult to enforce, within this context.

In January of this year, the Committee sent a letter requesting testimony from Ivanka Trump, who served as a White House advisor to her father during his White House tenure. The Committee publicly released a letter addressing Ivanka Trump and asking for "voluntary cooperation with our investigation."

In his lawsuit, Trump gave examples of former US presidents who have previously agreed to testify in their own cases after having received subpoenas from Congress but stressed that none of them have "ever been compelled to do so."

The lawsuit explains that Congress "lacks authority" to force such a thing and "President Trump is not required to comply."

So far, the Committee has issued over 100 subpoenas and has interviewed over a 1,000 people since 2021. It is worth noting that no sitting president has testified against Congress before.