R/I ~ AA
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The Jan. 6 select panel’s subpoenas of five House Republicans are a huge risk by any measure — it could fail to yield new evidence while piling additional stress on an institution already buckling under partisan strain.
But committee members say the peril is worth it to prevent a future insurrection, not to mention to fully investigate an election subversion attempt by former President Donald Trump and his allies.
“This determination to issue these subpoenas was not a decision that the committee made lightly,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the Capitol riot panel’s vice chair. “But it is absolutely a necessary one … The sanctity of this body and the continued functioning of our constitutional republic requires that we ensure that there never be an attack like that again.”
The select committee’s subpoena of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Cheney’s former partner in the House GOP’s upper echelon, and four members of the Trump-aligned House Freedom Caucus puts the panel on the fast track to a court battle — raising the prospects that it blows past its self-imposed deadline to finish its work. If Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) or McCarthy sues to contest the subpoenas, the fight could take months to resolve with an uncertain outcome.
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Article URL : https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/13/why-the-jan-6-panel-bet-its-legal-hand-against-the-house-gop-00032228