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

Bennie Thompson.
(Image credit: Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images)

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the House's Jan. 6 select committee, told The Washington Post he's not reluctant to subpoena any member of Congress who resists voluntary cooperation if their testimony may be relevant to the panel's mission. In particular, it appears the committee is going to zero in on White House telephone and visitor logs to see if any GOP lawmakers made contact with the Trump administration during the Capitol riot.

But it's unclear if the committee can actually force any testimony. "I don't know what the precedent is, to be honest," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a committee member, told the Post. "Obviously we will have to look into all these questions."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.