US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested on Sunday that former President Donald Trump is too much of a coward to obey a subpoena from the US Congress compelling him to testify to a special committee investigating his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
"I don't think he's man enough to show up. I don't think his lawyers will want him to show up because he has to testify under oath," Pelosi said in an interview with MSNBC, as quoted by Reuters.
"We'll see if he's man enough to show up," she added.
The House January 6 Committee on Friday sent a subpoena to Trump, ordering his testimony and documents relating to the Capitol riot.
The subpoena called for Trump’s testimony at the November 14 meeting of the committee.
In mid-October, the House select committee voted unanimously to subpoena Trump.
“It is our obligation to seek Donald Trump’s testimony,” the panel’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), said before the vote. “There’s precedent in American history for Congress to compel the testimony of a president.”
Committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY.) described securing the testimony of “Jan. 6’s central player” as “a key task” that remains unfinished.
The January 6 committee has already held several hearings. Members of the panel have accused Trump of inciting a mob of followers to attack the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a last-ditch bid to remain in power.
In recent months the committee has interviewed a number of former Trump administration Cabinet officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump recently threatened legal action against the Jan. 6 committee.
“The Unselect Committee has refused to acknowledge, as was done by the Biden Inspector General at the Department of Defense, and others, that days ahead of January 6th, I recommended and authorized thousands of troops to be deployed to ensure that there was peace, safety, and security at the Capitol and throughout the Country,” he said.