Former President Donald Trump.
AP Photo/Morry Gash
Trump’s advisers really don’t want him to testify to the January 6 panel, per Rolling Stone.A source told Rolling Stone they hope aides successfully “talked him out of it.”However, the source said they were unsure if the advice “actually sunk in or stuck” with Trump.
Former President Donald Trump’s advisers told Rolling Stone they have been trying desperately to convince him not to testify live before the January 6 panel.
On October 13, the January 6 panel unanimously voted to subpoena Trump. The New York Times reported that Trump is considering answering the subpoena and wants to testify on live TV.
Rolling Stone spoke to three sources with knowledge of the matter, including a Trump legal adviser. These unnamed sources told Rolling Stone that several Trump lawyers and political aides have advised the former president that they think it is a terrible idea to speak to the committee.
The Trump legal adviser told Rolling Stone that the counsel they gave Trump regarding his testimony — on live TV or otherwise — would be to “absolutely fucking not” do it.
“It is my hope that we talked him out of it,” said another Rolling Stone source. “The former president seemed receptive to our arguments against it, but with Donald Trump, it can be hard to tell sometimes what has actually sunk in or stuck.”
The advisers also told Trump that the January 6 panel members would use his testimony as evidence for potential perjury charges if he were to lie on the stand, per Rolling Stone.
The January 6 panel formally issued the subpoena to Trump on October 21, with a letter requesting he turn over the documents by November 4 and sit for testimony on or around November 14. The subpoena compels Trump to cooperate with the committee. If he does not cooperate, he may be held in contempt of Congress and referred to the Justice Department for prosecution — much like his allies Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro.
However, there is a chance that Trump might wait out the subpoena and not have to comply. If the GOP takes the House back in November, the House Select Committee could be dissolved, its work discontinued, and the subpoena disregarded.
Trump did not say if he would testify in the 14-page document he released after the January 6 panel’s October 13 vote. However, Trump on October 14 shared a Fox News article on Truth Social with the title: “Trump ‘loves the idea of testifying’ before Jan. 6 committee: source close to the former president.”
A representative at Trump’s post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.