The committee concluded its final hearing before the Nov. 8 midterm elections with the decision on Thursday, Oct. 13, to require the former president to testify publicly under oath.
“This is a question about accountability. He is required to answer to the American people,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee chair.
What Thompson called Trump's "staggering betrayal of his oath” led to an “attack on a pillar of our democracy" that is "still hard to believe.”
Vicechair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said it was the committee's duty "to hear from the man who set this all in motion...so we can protect our republic. “None of this would have happened without him, he was personally and substantially involved in all of it.
“No president can defy the rule of law and act this way in a constitutional republic, period.”
Trump, who regularly speaks to the public through his social media site, didn't immediately respond to the news.
The Jan. 6 committee expects to release a report of its findings in December. It dissolves with a new Congress the following month.
Republicans, if they regain control of the House, are expected to scuttle the probe and shift the focus to President Biden, his family and the Administration.
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