Jan. 6 Probe Subpoenas Lawmakers

The House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, entered a new phase of legal and political uncertainty when it moved earlier this month to subpoena five Republican members of Congress who have declined to cooperate with requests for testimony and information.Outside of Senate and House ethics committees, no congressional body had subpoenaed a fellow lawmaker. That means the subpoenas stand in uncharted constitutional territory that could take months to play out if the dispute goes to court, legal specialists said. The success or failure of the panel’s efforts to compel sitting lawmakers to testify could determine the scope of Congress’s investigative powers in future disputes.