Donald Trump has tried repeatedly to stall or disrupt the House investigation of his efforts to overturn last year's election, but the select committee has been moving forward with new speed.
Some of the twice-impeached one-term president's closest allies have resisted efforts to obtain documents and interviews, and Trump's own efforts to shield himself from the probe has reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but CNN reported that House investigators are moving closer to revealing what happened in the leadup to Jan. 6.
"The panel's attempt to reach deep into Trump world and behind the scenes in the West Wing on January 6 kicked into higher gear in the days before Christmas, offering new insight into its areas of focus," wrote CNN analyst Stephen Collinson. "Trump responded by stepping up his own strategy of defying the truth. It is now clear committee members are trying to build a detailed picture of exactly what Trump said, did and thought in the days leading up to the insurrection and in the hours when it raged on Capitol Hill after he incited the mob with fresh election fraud lies."
The panel has called for testimony from lawmakers who were closely involved in Trump's efforts to stay in power, but the committee may be forced to subpoena recalcitrant Republicans such as Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
"From the outside, it is difficult to tell how deeply the House select committee has managed to penetrate what was happening in Trump's West Wing on January 6," Collinson wrote. "While several prominent associates of the ex-President are refusing to testify, the committee has conducted several hundred interviews with people inside and outside the former administration."
"Not everyone has the political commitment or the financial resources to enter a legal battle by defying a subpoena," he added. "And details from the lawsuit that emerged on Christmas Eve showed that [Trump spokesman Taylor] Budowich had supplied the committee with more than 1,700 pages of documents and provided about four hours of testimony. He sued on Friday night to stop the committee from obtaining records from a bank. The previously undisclosed records request is another indication the committee has made substantial behind-the-scenes progress and could at least partially derail Trump's cover-up despite his best efforts."
