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Former President Donald Trump will arrive in Texas for a rally on Saturday night as he faces growing legal pressure—just one day after the House select committee investigating last year's Capitol riot subpoenaed the embattled ex-president.
Trump will speak in Robstown to support his endorsed candidates in the Lone Star State. South Texas is home to three highly competitive congressional races that will test GOP inroads with Hispanic voters forged in 2020. The rally is set to begin at 7 p.m. CDT at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds. Speakers at the rally include Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and state Attorney General Ken Paxton, both of whom are up for reelection on November 8.
Governor Greg Abbott, whose reelection bid received Trump's endorsement, said he will be unable to attend the rally as he faces a challenge from former Representative Beto O'Rourke. The governor will taking part of a fundraising event in Florida, a move that some political analysts found "interesting" given that the elections are a few weeks away, local news station KIIITV reported.
Only one day earlier on Friday, Trump received a subpoena from the committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot, which saw hundreds of his supporters rampage at the United States Capitol building in a failed attempt to intimidate Congress into blocking President Joe Biden's electoral college victory. The ex-president also continues facing several other investigations that threaten to mar a potential 2024 presidential run.
January 6 Committee Subpoenas Trump
The House committee formally issued a subpoena against Trump on Friday after unanimously voting to do so during a hearing earlier this month. The move sets up a legal battle about whether Congress has the authority to compel testimony from a former president.
The subpoena directed Trump to testify to the committee either in-person at the Capitol or remotely on November 14 and provide several pieces of evidence related to his activities on, before and after January 6, 2021. Among the committee's 19 demands, Trump most provide every phone call, text message and communication he received or sent on January 6.
"We recognize that a subpoena to a former President is a significant and historic action," the subpoena reads. "We do not take this action lightly."
The committee, throughout several public hearings held in the late summer, sought to prove their case that Trump's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud motivated rioters, that he failed to take adequate, timely action to prevent the riot from escalating and that the former president sought to illegitimately overturn the 2020 election results.
The subpoena against Trump comes after testimony from several people who worked in the Trump White House including his daughter Ivanka Trump, his attorney Pat Cipollone and chief of staff Mark Meadows' aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Trump's approval rating floundered amid the January 6 hearings, as some independent and moderate voters turned away from the GOP over the election fraud claims.
Trump Faces Ongoing Probe Into Classified Documents
Trump continues to face an ongoing Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into whether he improperly stored classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence. FBI agents raided the property in early August, taking more than 100 documents the DOJ says were improperly stored.
This week, Trump claimed clemency requests and some other documents related to his immigration policies should be sent back to him in a letter to special master Raymond Dearie, NBC News reported Friday. His lawyers said that they are personal records that belong to him—not the government.
Trump has dismissed the DOJ investigation as a "witch hunt" and has not been formally charged with a crime. Critics have accused him of leaving vulnerable documents potentially related to national security.
Trump Ally Graham to Testify in Georgia Case
Meanwhile, Georgia's Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is probing whether Trump's call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—in which he allegedly asked him to find enough votes to tilt the election in his favor—violated state law.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and Trump ally, is seeking to avoid giving testimony in the case. Prosecutors are hoping to question him about a phone call to Raffensperger in which he allegedly asked about rejecting some state ballots to help Trump win.
A grand jury has subpoenaed him, though he has mounted a legal challenge. A Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected the senator's claim that he is immune from testifying this week. On Friday, Graham filed an emergency request to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office for comment.
About the writer
Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more