The real reason the January 6th Committee just subpoenaed Donald Trump
The January 6th Committee just subpoenaed Donald Trump during today’s public hearing. That’s smart. It’ll hand the media its main ratings-friendly talking point, and ensure the media doesn’t go down some tangential rabbit hole instead. This committee has been particularly adept at messaging – particularly with regard to giving the media something juicy enough to bite on.
Why didn’t the 1/6 Committee just subpoena Trump months ago? Because Trump was always going to just drag it out in court forever. The committee was never going to be able to force Trump to testify if he didn’t want to. So instead it’s making the subpoena itself the story.
It’s difficult to imagine Trump will actually comply with this subpoena, given how hard he’s working to dodge various other subpoenas. But if Trump fails to comply, the committee can refer him for contempt just before the midterms if it wants to. Even more well timed messaging.
If Trump is dumb enough to show up and testify, then it’ll be pay dirt for the committee. But even in the more likely scenario where he tries to blow off the subpoena, the committee will get its messaging as well as the appearance of Trump’s guilt in the court of public opinion.
Any such testimony from Trump would surely be behind closed doors, so the committee could then release just the damning parts, without giving him a hot mic for indiscriminately broadcasting his lies.
As a side note, while Trump can drag a congressional subpoena out forever, grand jury subpoenas don’t work that way. It’s why Trump was forced to testify in New York, is being forced to testify in the E. Jean Carroll case, etc. So no, Trump won’t just “get away with it all.”
Finally, keep in mind that these January 6th hearings are (for now) entirely about the midterms. Look for midterm messaging, and use it to impact persuadable voters. The criminal hammer will drop on Trump and others when it drops. But the midterms are our job. We have our messaging. Now let’s go put in the work to help Democratic candidates win competitive midterm elections.
So what can you do? If you have money, donate to these races. Many of them are lower profile, so even a small donation can make a big difference. If you have time, sign up to volunteer. They’re labeled by district, so you can pick the ones that are within driving distance. If you don’t live near any of these races, you can volunteer online from home. If you don’t have time or money to spare, you can help by sharing these candidate links on your Facebook and Twitter pages, so your followers with time or money will see it and contribute in their own way:
Toss-up races (Democratic challenger)
Gabe Vasquez, NM-02 (New Mexico): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Greg Landsman OH-1 (Ohio): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Adam Gray CA-13 (California): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Andrea Salinas OR-06 (Oregon): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Yadira Caraveo CO-08 (Colorado): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Eric Sorensen IL-17 (Illinois): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Wiley Nickel NC-13 (North Carolina): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Jevin Hodge AZ-01 (Arizona): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Seth Magaziner (Rhode Island): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Josh Riley NY-19 (New York): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Jamie McLeod-Skinner OR-05 (Oregon): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Francis Conole NY-22 (New York): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Christy Smith CA-27 (California): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Rudy Salas CA-22 (California): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Annette Taddeo FL-27 (Florida): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Chris Deluzio PA-17 (Pennsylvania): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Emilia Sykes OH-13 (Ohio): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Tony Vargas NE-02 (Nebraska): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
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Toss-up races (Democratic incumbent)
Chris Pappas NH-01 (New Hampshire): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Tom Malinowski NJ-07 (New Jersey): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Angie Craig MN-02 (Minnesota): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Vicente Gonzalez TX-34 (Texas): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Susan Wild PA-07 (Pennsylvania): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Dina Titus NV-01 (Nevada): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Susie Lee NV-03 (Nevada): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Elaine Luria VA-02 (Virginia): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Mary Peltola (Alaska): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Matt Cartwright PA-08 (Pennsylvania): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Jared Golden ME-02 (Maine): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Frank Mrvan IN-01 (Indiana): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Kim Schrier WA-08 (Washington): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Sharice Davids KS-03 (Kansas): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Elissa Slotkin MI-07 (Michigan): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
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Lean-R races
Jay Chen CA-45 (California): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Brad Pfaff WI-03 (Wisconsin): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez WA-03 (Washington): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Christina Bohannan IA-01 (Iowa): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Tom O’Halleran AZ-02 (Arizona): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Kirsten Engel AZ-06 (Arizona): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Bridget Fleming NY-01 (New York): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Cindy Axne IA-03 (Iowa): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Will Rollins CA-41 (California): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
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Lean-D races
Don Davis NC-01 (North Carolina): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Mike Levin CA-49 (California): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Hillary Scholten MI-03 (Michigan): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Steven Horsford NV-04 (Nevada): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Dan Kildee MI-08 (Michigan): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Marcy Kaptur OH-09 (Ohio): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Nikki Budzinski IL-13 (Illinois): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Katie Porter CA-47 (California): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Pat Ryan NY-18 (New York): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Annie Kuster NH-02 (New Hampshire): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Sean Patrick Maloney NY-17 (New York): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Abigail Spanberger VA-07 (Virginia): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Robert Zimmerman NY-03 (New York): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
Jahana Hayes CT-05 (Connecticut): Campaign website • Donate • Volunteer • Follow on Twitter
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About this list: The “volunteer” links are the volunteer page provided by the candidate’s official website. The “donate” links lead directly to the ActBlue donation page that the candidate has designated on his or her official website, meaning the money goes directly to the candidate. The Toss-up, Lean-R, and Lean-D rankings primarily come from Cook Political Report, which has had a strong track record with such predictions. The order of the candidates is random with each category, and is changed each time the list is republished, in an attempt at promoting them evenly. Broken or incorrect links? Email us.
