(CNN) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump to present documents and testimony during a public hearing Thursday.
The decision is a significant escalation by the panel that will set up a showdown with the former president.
Trump is not expected to comply with the subpoena, but the action serves as a way for the commission to set a precedent and show that it wants information directly from Trump while the panel investigates the attack. The vote took place at the end of the hearing this Thursday.
The subpoena is sure to set off a protracted court battle over Trump’s possible compliance, which might even outlast the committee itself. Republicans have promised to shut down the Democratic-led panel if they regain a majority in the House of Representatives in next month’s midterm elections.
Trump has previously derided the panel as an “unselected commission of political thugs and hackers” and said its members are “evil, sinister and unpatriotic.” He has also complained that the “partisan kangaroo court” procedures “have allowed for no due process, no cross-examination, and no actual Republican member of the witnesses to be present or interviewed.”
Early in the hearing, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs the committee, announced that they had changed Thursday’s public hearing to a business meeting, which is a technical difference but means the committee can vote on investigation actions.
NBC was the first to report on the plan.
Thursday’s hearing is expected to be the last before the midterm elections.
