Trump writes angry letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson after being subpoenaed

by Adam Ganucheau, Mississippi Today
October 14, 2022

Just hours after Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson's Jan. 6 Committee voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump, Trump wrote a ranting letter addressed to Thompson that questioned the work and claims of the House select committee.

The committee, empaneled in 2021 and chaired by Thompson, has been investigating the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and has argued that Trump is responsible for inspiring a violent mob to breach the U.S. Capitol and interrupt the certification of the 2020 election that Trump lost.

Trump, who did not mention the subpoena in his 14-page letter to Thompson, fumed about the committee's work — including what Thompson on Thursday called the committee's central finding: That Trump “is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6.”

“THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!” Trump's letter begins, using all caps. “… This memo is being written to express our anger, disappointment, and complaint that with all of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on what many consider to be a Charade and Witch Hunt, and despite strong and powerful requests, you have not spent even a short moment on examining the massive Election Fraud that took place during the 2020 Presidential Election, and have targeted only those who were, as concerned American Citizens, protesting the Fraud itself.”

Thompson has been outspoken in his belief that the depth and seriousness of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol should be revealed for the nation to see. Most Republican politicians in Washington, including members of the state's congressional delegation with the exception of Rep. Michael Guest, opposed the investigation.

READ MORE: Rep. Bennie Thompson's Mississippi colleagues have no comment on his Jan. 6 hearings

The committee has found bombshell evidence, including testimony that Trump tried to go to the Capitol as his supporters were invading on Jan. 6 and that he rejected pleas for hours by Republican elected officials and members of his staff to make a statement to stop the attack.

Following its final public hearing on Thursday, all nine members of the committee voted to subpoena the former president, compelling him to testify before the committee. Trump has not said whether he will comply with the subpoena or fight it in the courts.

READ MORE: Rep. Bennie Thompson, leading the public Jan. 6 hearings, has long worked to protect democracy

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.