A federal judge in Florida has dismissed former President Donald Trump’s subpoena fight with the now-disbanded Jan. 6 congressional committee, an unsurprising end to an historically significant chapter of the investigation.
(Bloomberg) — A federal judge in Florida has dismissed former President Donald Trump’s subpoena fight with the now-disbanded Jan. 6 congressional committee, an unsurprising end to an historically significant chapter of the investigation.
US District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz II on Wednesday agreed with Trump’s lawyers that the case had become moot once the committee withdrew its subpoena for documents and Trump’s testimony in late December. Little had happened in the case since Trump sued the committee in November.
In a dramatic public meeting in October, the committee unanimously voted to subpoena the former president as part of its probe into the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol and Trump’s efforts to undermine the 2020 election results. But it was seen as a largely symbolic move — the committee was already wrapping up its investigation because its authority was set to expire at the start of the new year.
Trump had argued in the lawsuit that he was entitled to “absolute immunity” against being compelled to appear before Congress and that the subpoena was unlawful because the committee lacked a “valid legislative purpose.” Some of Trump’s past legal entanglements with Congress have taken years to resolve, raising novel questions about how Congress can enforce its demands for information and what legal protections apply to Trump, first as a sitting president and now as a former officeholder.
But the Florida case ended without any litigation of substance. In its final public meeting last month, the Jan. 6 committee voted to refer Trump to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.
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