A day after its first hearing with emotional testimony from police officers brought the Jan 6. Capitol attack back into the national spotlight, the House select committee investigating the assault will meet this week on possible next steps, including issuing subpoenas. "I have no reluctance whatsoever in issuing subpoenas for information," Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Wednesday morning, asserting the committee "absolutely" has the authority. "Nothing is off limits in this investigation."
His comment comes after the Department of Justice said in letters to former DOJ officials and provided to congressional committees that they can participate in investigations related to Jan. 6, according to sources and letters reviewed by ABC News Tuesday, which the House Oversight Committee later confirmed. Therefore, if witnesses try to fight subpoenas, they may have to do so on their own dime.
"Members of Congress have already admitted that they talked to the White House while it was going on. Now many of them are trying to walk back the conversation they had," Thompson said. "We plan to pursue it."
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who sits on the committee, told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that the committee had not ruled out calling Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has criticized the committee and was vetoed from it by House Speaker Pelosi over comments she said would damage its credibility, to testify.
Jordan admitted on Tuesday evening that he -- like GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy -- spoke to former President Donald Trump on the phone on Jan. 6, and in another interview Wednesday with Ohio Spectrum News reporter Taylor Popielarz, confirmed he spoke to Trump on Jan. 6.
Asked by Popielarz if he spoke to Trump before during or after the attack, Jordan said he didn’t remember.
“I spoke with him that day. After? I think after. I don't know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don't know,” he said. “I don't know when those conversations."
Fox News host Brett Baier also pressed Jordan Tuesday on whether he spoke to Trump that day, and Jordan repeatedly deflected, saying he's "talked to the former president umpteen times -- thousands, countless times."
Baier followed up, "But I mean on January 6, congressman."
"Yes," Jordan said. "I mean, I've talked to the president so many -- I can't remember all the days I've talked to him, but I've certainly talked to the president."
Conversations in Trump's orbit, such as the apparent call with Jordan, are key to what the committee is seeking to investigate, with Cheney saying Tuesday that Americans should know what happened "what happened every minute of that day in the White House."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi affirmed the committee's subpoena power in her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, but distanced herself from the committee itself as House Republican leaders disparaged the two GOP members who joined the panel as "Pelosi Republicans."
When asked what will happen if House members don't comply with subpoenas, Pelosi emphasized she is not involved with the select committee and "has not been a party to any of those decisions, so I cannot tell you what they might decide."
The speaker also dismissed concerns that there will be political backlash if the committee's work drags out or loses momentum, asked if she would like to see the committee move more expeditiously.
"They will take the time that they need," she said. "We were very late in getting to this because we were striving for the bipartisan commission, which we thought was very possible."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jan-sel ... d=79118740
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