The January 6 Committee Had a Chance to Nail Trump—They May Have Blown It

In what was likely the final public hearing from the January 6 committee before it releases its final report on the Capitol riot, the House panel unanimously voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump after making the case that he was the "central player" of the deadly attack. But the latest development in the investigation has likely come too late to take effect.

On Thursday, the committee returned for its 10th public hearing and its final one before this year's critical midterm elections. Although the panel may have waited for a ripe political moment to deliver the blow to Trump, the timing of issuing a subpoena this close to a new Congress is likely to render it useless.

Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and political science professor at George Washington University, explained that because the current House of Representatives expires at the end of this Congress—which would technically be January 2, 2023—so do the legislative efforts and investigations of that session. The January 6 committee's authorization will also expire at the end of the 117th Congress.

"Traditionally that has meant that the subpoena voted on [yesterday] will likely have a very short shelf life," Binder told Newsweek.

On Thursday, committee chairman Representative Bennie Thompson said the panel had an "obligation" to hear from Trump.

"This is a question about accountability to the American people. He must be accountable. He is required to answer for his actions," Thompson said of Trump, adding that "he is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on January 6. So we want to hear from him."

In response to the subpoena, Trump sent a 14-page document to Thompson, attacking the panel's legitimacy and maintaining the false claim that the 2020 election was "rigged and stolen," but the former president did not address whether he would testify before the panel.

Trump may very well quickly refuse to appear before the committee, which could lead to the Democrat-controlled House voting on holding him in contempt, like members of Congress did when Trump allies Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro failed to comply with their own subpoenas. But even if Trump were to be held in contempt of Congress, the citation would also expire come January, Binder said.

However, experts think Trump is much more likely to take a different route to the subpoena.

"Trump will stall, his favorite strategy," James Thurber, political science professor at American University, told Newsweek. "The subpoena would be dropped in the next Congress."

One way the former president may try to buy himself more time is by challenging the constitutionality of a chamber of Congress trying to subpoena a former president, Binder said.

Although the move to subpoena Trump was acknowledged by Thompson to be a "serious and extraordinary action," it is not the first time a president has been subpoenaed. Thomas Jefferson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton have all been subpoenaed. And the possibility that Trump would testify in front of Congress would also not make him the first former president to do so, although the last such appearance was nearly four decades ago in 1983 with Gerald Ford.

But Binder said Thursday's congressional action, ultimately, is "unlikely to end with the former president testifying before the Jan. 6th committee."

Newsweek reached out to the January 6 committee for comment.