A member of the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection suggested Sunday night that the panel may not even subpoena former president Donald Trump.
"We haven't decided that yet," Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told CNN. "We have a lot of investigations under way, and that is a weighty decision that we have discussed, but have not decided on."
Pressed for details on the committee's deliberations about subpoenaing Trump, Lofgren said, "I'd never discuss the private discussions the committee has, but let me just tell you some facts I'm weighing."
"First, the former president has a veracity problem that is well known," she said. "There used to be 'how many falsehoods does he say in any one sentence?' So, I think there has to be a weighing of how valuable the evidence or testimony would actually be."
"Secondarily, he is very litigious, and he would tie the committee up in court for as long as he possibly could, and since there are various privileges that a former president can assert even if they don't hold up in the end, that could take a very long time," she added.
"Finally, we have a lot of information from those around him, in the Trump inner circle," Lofgren said. "We have documents that may actually create the picture. One possibility would be simply to invite him to meet with us. That would avoid a lengthy court fight, but we have not made that decision yet, and I will say that the huge amount of documents that we are receiving from others in his inner circle, from the National Archives, is starting to paint a rather vivid picture as far as I'm concerned about what happened, and when that picture is put together, we will reveal it to the American public in a series of hearings."
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