Cheney: Trump Jan. 6 testimony won’t be ‘circus’ or ‘food fight’

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report inaccurately described Rep. Liz Cheney’s comments regarding former President Trump’s testimony before the Jan. 6 panel.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chairwoman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, said on Sunday the panel will not allow former President Trump to turn his testimony before the panel “into a circus.”

“He’s not going to turn this into a circus,” Cheney told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when he asked if Trump’s testimony would become a “television spectacle.” 

“This isn’t going to be his first debate against Joe Biden and the circus and the food fight that that became,” Cheney continued. “This is a far too serious set of issues, and we’ve made clear exactly what his obligations are. And we are proceeding with that set out.”

Cheney made the comments after The New York Times reported that Trump has told aides he favors testifying as long as he gets to do so live.

Cheney and her eight colleagues on the Jan. 6 panel earlier this month unanimously voted to subpoena the former president during their most recent public hearing, a remarkable step that comes as the panel prepares to finish its work.

The committee last week formally issued the subpoena, detailing 19 areas of inquiry and asking for relevant documents by Nov. 4. It also asks Trump to appear for a deposition beginning on Nov. 14.

“The committee treats this matter with great seriousness,” Cheney said on NBC. “And we are going to proceed in terms of the questioning of the former president under oath. It may take multiple days. And it will be done with a level of rigor and discipline and seriousness that it deserves.”

Trump has repeatedly attacked the committee, both before and after it announced the subpoena, accusing the panel’s members of pursuing their investigation for political purposes.

Those attacks have raised questions about the committee’s plans if Trump ultimately resists the subpoena. 

“We have many, many alternatives that we will consider if the former president decides that he is not going to comply with his legal obligation, a legal obligation every American citizen has, to comply with a subpoena,” Cheney told Todd.

The House has voted to hold in contempt multiple Trump aides who did not comply with their Jan. 6 committee subpoenas, including former trade adviser Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, who managed the former president’s social media.

Those votes referred the contempt charges to the Justice Department, which can choose to pursue further action. 

The Justice Department has reportedly indicated it will not charge Scavino or former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, although grand juries have indicted Navarro and Stephen Bannon.

Bannon last week was sentenced to four months in prison for defying his subpoena.

–Updated at 1:53 p.m.