Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, told Newsmax Friday that Congress issuing a subpoena to former President Donald Trump for testimony in front of the committee investigating Jan. 6 is "ridiculous."
"It is ridiculous," Jackson said during "Rob Schmitt Tonight" Friday. "I can't believe the hypocrisy of the federal government on all of these particular issues."
The House committee issued the subpoena Friday calling for the former president to testify on Nov. 14 just hours after a federal judge sentenced former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to four months in prison for refusing to appear in front of the panel.
"[Democrats] are putting Bannon in jail," he said. "When [Republicans] take the House back and we subpoena people and they don't show up, I expect them to go to jail."
According to The Washington Post, Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, and Vice Chairman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., issued a statement as part of a 10-page letter to Trump requesting his testimony.
"As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multipart effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power," the statement said.
While the committee unanimously approved the subpoena last week, and was anticipated to be issued, legal experts told the Post that there will likely be several legal hurdles to overcome should Trump defy the subpoena, the Post reported.
Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., challenged Trump to comply with the subpoena in the Post's report.
"Before any of the legalities, we want the American people to ask themselves whether they would respond to a subpoena asking them to testify about an insurrectionary attack against the U.S. government," Raskin said in the report.
"What kind of American president sends other people into battle to storm the Capitol to 'stop the steal,' and then refuses even to tell the country what he knows about the events. What kind of snowflake are we dealing with?"
The news outlet previously reported that Trump has told his inner circle that he is willing to appear and testify in front of the committee, but other advisers said they don't expect him to appear.
In their statement, Thompson and Cheney listed several former presidents that have testified after leaving office.
"Former Presidents John Quincy Adams, John Tyler, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, and Gerald Ford each testified before Congress after they left office," they write.
"President Roosevelt explained during his congressional testimony, 'an ex-President is merely a citizen of the United States, like any other citizen, and it is his plain duty to try to help this committee or respond to its invitation.' Even sitting Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and Gerald Ford, also testified before Congress.
"Further, both former and sitting presidents including Presidents [Richard] Nixon, [John] Tyler, and [John] Quincy Adams, have provided evidence in response to congressional subpoenas."
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