Advisors to former President Donald Trump are hoping they talked him out of the idea of complying with a subpoena from the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol because they fear his testimony would result in perjury charges.
After the select committee voted unanimously to approve the subpoena, Trump began floating the possibility of complying if the interview was broadcast live.
One of Trump's advisors told Rolling Stone the message aides sent to the former president was, "absolutely f*cking not."
The magazine reported, "several of Trump's attorneys and political counselors have directly told the ex-president this month that any testimony under oath before that panel would be an awful idea for him, according to this source and two other people with knowledge of the matter. The advisers cautioned Trump that committee members would mine his testimony for potential perjury charges, particularly given Trump's penchant for lying."
One advisor told Rolling Stone, "It is my hope that we talked him out of it. The [former] president seemed receptive to our arguments against [it], but with Donald Trump, it can be hard to tell [sometimes] what has actually sunk in or stuck."
Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb told the magazine that no lawyer in their right mind would advise Trump to testify.
"It is clear that testifying would be a bad idea, as highlighted by the fact that his initial reaction to the subpoena included a multi-page screed where he repeated the completely discredited theories of the Big Lie," Cobb said. "I would like to believe his lawyers did not see that before it went out, but whether they did or didn't, each scenario is scary."
Read the full report.
