House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn signaled on Sunday that former President Donald Trump may be required to testify before the new select committee investigating the Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol.
During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the South Carolina Democrat said that while having Mr. Trump’s testimony was not optimal, it was something that might be required to get to the bottom of what transpired.
“They should go wherever the facts lead. They may be able to get what they want and need without him testifying,” said Mr. Clyburn. “I would not want to see a former president testifying in such a situation like this, but if that’s what it takes in order to get to the bottom of this because this is more than one person.”
Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created a special committee to investigate the Jan. 6 incident. The move came after months of back-and-forth negotiations over the topic.
Mrs. Pelosi and congressional Democrats initially wanted a bipartisan commission to study the incident, but legislation creating such a panel stalled in the Senate. Republicans offered to back the commission, provided its scope was expanded to probe to include political violence perpetrated by both the left and right.
After the legislation’s defeat, Mrs. Pelosi opted to move unilaterally using her powers as speaker of the House. Republicans objected to the committee’s formation, saying the speaker’s move was a purely political ploy meant to help Democrats keep the House ahead of next year’s midterms.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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