Legal experts stumped over whether Jan. 6 committee can force GOP lawmakers to testify

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Chairman of the House Special Committee on Jan. 6, told the Washington Post that he would not hesitate to summon members of Congress who oppose volunteering if their testimony is relevant to the panel’s mission could be. In particular, the committee appears to be reviewing the White House phone and visitor logs to see if any GOP lawmakers made contact with the Trump administration during the Capitol Insurgency.

However, it is unclear whether the committee can actually compel a testimony. “I don’t know what the precedent is, to be honest,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., A committee member, told the Post. “Of course we will have to look into all of these questions.”

Stanley Brand, a congressional ethics research expert and former House attorney from 1976 to 1983, added that he does not recall “a case where members of Congress were summoned to a prudential hearing,” although he said he believed “someone could formulate something ”. a theory that you have an obligation to respond to a subpoena. “

While legal experts are at a loss as to the authority of the committee in this case, Jessica Levinson of Loyola Law School believes that this is not necessarily a bad thing as the country has not had many riots in its history. “We have never been here,” she told the Post. “But if we’ve been here before, we’re really in big trouble.” Read more in the Washington Post.