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Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Friday against the House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot, only a few days before the date ordered for his deposition.
The suit, which was filed in a federal court in Florida, challenges the committee's subpoena asking Trump to hand over documents related to the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. It also challenges the panel's request for Trump to testify.
"Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States, was issued a subpoena (the
"Subpoena") by the Committee to turn over documents and to testify in a closed-door deposition about events that occurred while he was President of the United States," the lawsuit reads.
It continues: "While other Presidents and former Presidents have voluntarily agreed to testify or turn over documents in response to a congressional subpoena, no President or former President has ever been compelled to do so."
Last month, the committee said that "issuing a subpoena to a former President is a significant and historic action." It also said that it "does not take this action lightly."
The subpoena orders Trump to testify to the committee in a deposition either at the Capitol or remotely on November 14.
Trump lawyer David Warrington explained the former president's reasons behind suing the committee in a statement.
"Long-held precedent and practice maintain that separation of powers prohibits Congress from compelling a President to testify before it," Warrington said, according to the Associated Press.
"After the J6 Committee has undertaken the unprecedented act of demanding President Trump appear for a deposition on Monday, November 14th, he engaged with the Committee in a good faith effort to resolve these concerns consistent with Executive Branch prerogatives and separation of powers," Warrington added, according to CNN.
He continued: "But this partisan Committee insists on pursuing a political path, leaving President Trump with no choice but to involve the third branch, the judicial branch, in this dispute between the executive and legislative branches."
Trump is being investigated for his role in the events on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. The committee has ordered Trump to provide evidence related to his activities and communications on, before and after that day.
"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 transfer of power," the committee wrote to Trump in October.
The committee initially gave Trump a November 4 deadline to provide the requested documents, then provided him a brief extension. The ex-president's efforts to delay complying with the subpoena has been called by former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner a "sign of weakness."
Newsweek reached out to the January 6 Committee for comment.
Update 11/11/22, 10:53 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include additional background and information.
About the writer
Fatma Khaled is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. politics, world ... Read more