Trump should testify to the Jan. 6 committee because he has 'nothing to hide,' his lawyer says
Newsmax TV/YouTube
- Trump lawyer Alina Habba said he should have "no problem" testifying to the January 6 committee.
- He has "nothing to hide," Habba said of his role on January 6.
- Trump has yet to respond to the subpoena, which asks for documents and testimony.
A lawyer for former President Donald Trump says he should testify before the January 6 committee, saying he has "nothing to hide."
Lawyer Alina Habba spoke on Tuesday night to right-wing TV network Newsmax, where host Eric Bolling asked about Trump's options following the subpoena formally issued by the committee on October 21.
"I would recommend that he cooperate because when you have nothing to hide, that's what I always recommend the same reason that he always comes out and speaks on any of my cases," Habba said.
"He has no issue being deposed, even though the left-wing media would like to pretend that he does," she said.
At another point, she said that "what he did was very public, and it was really nothing other than to say to go out peacefully."
Contrary to Habba's words, many questions remain about Trump, who spent the duration of the riot inside the White House, with long periods of silence followed by occasional tweets.
The committee's subpoena demanded a wide range of Trump's communication records that would cover any exchanges he had while the Capitol was under attack.
He is known to have had exchanges with Rudy Giuliani, Ivanka Trump, White House officials and several senators, per a June report from The Washington Post, but the records of those exchanges are incomplete at best.
The subpoena was the result of a unanimous vote at the committee's last public sitting on October 13.
It asks Trump to submit documents by November 4 and then sit to testify around the middle of the month.
Trump has not yet said whether he will comply with the subpoena, although his lawyers told The New York Times that they are reviewing it. He issued a lengthy statement raging against the committee the day he received it, calling its members "highly partisan political Hacks and Thugs."
On Newsmax — where chyrons echoed Trump by calling it a "political witch hunt" — Bolling outlined how Trump might respond. His "options," Bolling said, include ignoring the subpoena, sitting for testimony but pleading the Fifth, or testifying fully.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress after he refused the committee's subpoena. He remains free pending appeal.
Habba went on to say that Trump has "no issue being subpoenaed and answering questions about what happened that day, and he shouldn't."
Egged on by Bolling, Habba then said she wanted to see House Speaker Nancy Pelosi testify over her role on January 6, referring to a long-discredited theory that Pelosi blocked the National Guard from responding to the crisis that day.
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