Wisconsin House Speaker Sues Jan. 6 Committee After Receiving Subpoena About Trump Call

Topline

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) sued the House January 6 Committee Sunday in an effort to block a subpoena for his testimony, according to court documents, showing the committee is looking into a phone call the state lawmaker had from former President Donald Trump this summer, in which Trump asked Vos to decertify the state’s 2020 election results.

Key Facts

Vos states in his lawsuit, filed in federal court in Wisconsin, that the House January 6 Committee subpoenaed him on Saturday and ordered him to testify at 10 a.m. Monday before investigators.

Lawmakers called Vos to testify based on a July phone call he had with Trump, in which Trump asked him to “take measures to change the result of the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin,” according to a letter committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) sent Vos that was attached to the subpoena and entered into the court record.

According to previous reports, Trump asked Vos to decertify President Joe Biden’s win in the state after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against the use of ballot drop boxes, which Trump claims (without evidence) were used to commit election fraud in 2020.

Vos opposed the calls to decertify the election—which is not legally possible—and Thompson’s letter notes Trump attacked Vos on Truth Social and endorsed his primary challenger as a result (Vos narrowly defeated the Trump-backed challenger).

Vos’ lawsuit alleges the committee subpoenaed him with too little notice before he was called to testify, and argued that asking him to testify about the July phone call is “entirely outside of the Committee’s authorized scope” because it had “no bearing on the events and causes of January 6, 2021.”

The House January 6 Committee has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Crucial Quote

“The Committee’s actions in issuing the Subpoena to Speaker Vos demonstrate the Committee has lost all sense of boundaries,” Vos alleged in his lawsuit. “The Committee no longer believes the scope of its investigation is limited to the events of, or leading up to, January 6. Instead, it believes it has a roving commission to inquire of any matter that piques its interest concerning former President Trump.”

What To Watch For

Vos’ lawsuit asks the court to bar the committee from subpoenaing him and calling him to testify entirely. According to Politico, which first reported Vos’ lawsuit and subpoena Monday, the committee canceled Vos’ scheduled testimony Monday after reviewing his lawsuit, but the subpoena is still in place for him to testify later. The House January 6 Committee will hold its first public hearing in several months on Wednesday afternoon, which Vos alleged in his lawsuit is why the committee asked him to testify on such short notice.

Key Background

Trump and some of his allies latched on to the idea of Wisconsin decertifying its election results after Michael Gableman, the special counsel Vos appointed to investigate the state’s election, suggested in March the state should take a “hard look” at doing so (his investigation did not find any signs of widespread fraud). Legal experts, including Gableman’s own attorney, have said decertification would be legally impossible and “pointless,” however, and the Washington Post reports Gableman himself later told Vos that doing so would be “a practical impossibility” and “[raise] numerous substantial constitutional issues that would be difficult to resolve.” Vos hired Gableman in June 2021 to investigate the state’s election results but fired him 14 months later in August and ended the probe, calling the special counsel an “embarrassment.” Vos is one of a number of Republicans who have opposed the House committee’s subpoenas in court, though CNN notes those challenges so far remain pending or have been unsuccessful, and several Trump allies have been held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply.

Further Reading

Wisconsin’s House Speaker Subpoenaed (Politico)

Trump urged Wisconsin Assembly speaker in July to decertify Biden 2020 election win (CNBC)

EXPLAINER: What’s behind efforts to decertify 2020 election? (Associated Press)

Memo shows Wis. GOP lawyer privately opposed decertifying Biden’s 2020 win (Washington Post)