Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Donald Trump to testify about Capitol Hill attack

The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video of close aides describing his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss that led to his supporters' fierce assault on the U.S. Capitol.

"We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6th's central player," said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee's vice chair.

"We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion," she added. "And every American is entitled to those answers."

With alarming messages from the U.S. Secret Service warning of violence and vivid new video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders pleading for help, the panel showed the raw desperation at the Capitol during its latest public hearing. Using language frequently seen in criminal indictments, the panel said that Trump had acted in a "premeditated" way ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, despite countless aides and officials telling him he had lost.

Trump is almost certain to fight the subpoena and decline to testify. On his social media outlet he blasted members for not asking him to testify earlier — though he didn't say he would have — and called the panel "a total BUST."

In one of its most riveting exhibits, the committee showed previously unseen footage of congressional leaders phoning officials for help during the assault.

Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer can be seen talking to governors in neighbouring Virginia and Maryland. Later the footage shows Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders as the group asks the acting attorney general for help.

"They're breaking the law in many different ways — quite frankly at the instigation of the president of the United States," Pelosi is heard saying at one point. 

The footage also shows Vice-President Mike Pence stepping in to help calm the violence, speaking directly with Capitol Police, as Congress planned to resume its session that night to certify Biden's election. The video was shot by Pelosi's daughter, a documentary filmmaker.

In never-before-seen Secret Service messages, the panel produced evidence of the way extremist groups provided the muscle in the fight for Trump's presidency, planning weeks before the attack to send a violent force to Washington.

"Their plan is literally to kill people," read a tip that was sent to Secret Service more than a week before the violence on Jan. 6.

The Secret Service warned in a Dec. 26, 2020 email of a tip that members of the right-wing Proud Boys planned to march in Washington on Jan. 6 with a group large enough to outnumber the police.

"It felt like the calm before the storm," one Secret Service agent wrote in a group chat.

The committee's 10th public session, just weeks before the congressional midterm elections, was delving into Trump's "state of mind," said committee Chair Bennie Thompson.