The January 6 committee has been in discussions with former President Donald Trump's attorneys and is hoping to obtain testimony from him that could take place over a number of days, the committee's Vice Chair Liz Cheney told PBS' Judy Woodruff on Tuesday.
Trump, who has not revealed whether he will comply with the subpoena against him last month demanding deposition and numerous documents, has until Friday to comply with the demand for the records and until Nov. 14 for the deposition.
Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said that Trump "has an obligation to comply" with the subpoena. "We have not made determinations about the format itself, but [the testimony] will be done under oath. It will be done, potentially, over multiple days."
She insisted that "we treat this and take this very seriously," declaring that "this is not a situation where the committee is going to put itself at the mercy of Donald Trump in terms of his efforts to create a circus."
In a letter accompanying the subpoena, the committee cited a number of historical precedents to show that it had the legal power to issue its demands of the former president, according to the Washington Examiner.
Asked if the Justice Department should indict Trump, Cheney said that "the committee will have to make decisions about criminal referrals, and I don't want to get ahead of the committee on that. I would anticipate we won't have disagreements about that, but we'll have to make those decisions when we come to it."
Trump has harshly criticized the committee for its subpoena, declaring in a statement that "the double standard of the Unselects between what has taken place on the 'Right,' and what has taken place with [the] radical Left, lawless groups such as antifa, Black Lives Matter, and others, is startling and will never be acceptable, even to those who will be writing the history of what you have done to America."
Key Trump followers such as Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro have defied subpoena demands from the committee and were later held in contempt of Congress, with Bannon recently given a four-month prison sentence and $6,500 in fines, while Navarro is heading to trial this month, the Washington Examiner reported.
However, if the GOP retakes the House in next week's midterms, the Republicans are expected to dissolve the panel shortly thereafter, and Trump could try to run out the clock with court challenges until that time.