The Case for Subpoenaing Members of Congress to Testify on the January 6 Insurrection

By any logical measure, the question of whether members of the House GOP knew about or were involved in the events of January 6 falls squarely within the legitimate scope of Nancy Pelosi’s investigatory select committee. And Pelosi seems eager to follow through. Last week, the House speaker signaled that the committee would soon be focusing on sitting members of Congress who, in her words, “participated in the ‘big lie.’” The next step may well be a first for the country: subpoenas to current members of Congress, issued by a committee of Congress.

The select committee’s chair, Democratic Representative Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, has that he has “no reluctance to subpoena” members of Congress “whose testimony is germane to the mission of the select committee” if they refuse that investigators would seek phone records from telecommunications companies relating to the attack, including those of members of Congress.