Both supporters and critics of former President Donald Trump have to admit that it has been a rough week for the 45th president.
On Thursday, the Democrat-led House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously to subpoena former Trump, demanding his personal testimony after unveiling new videos from the 2021 Capitol riot.
The same day, the Supreme Court of the United States denied an emergency appeal from Trump asking it to overturn a lower court ruling and permit an independent arbiter, or special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classified markings that were taken in the FBI’s August 8 raid of Mar-a-Lago.
The justices did not otherwise comment on turning away Trump’s emergency appeal.
Just hours before, New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge to bar Trump’s company from moving assets without court approval, saying it had engaged in a devious attempt to duck potential penalties in her fraud lawsuit against the former president.
“We have repeatedly provided assurance, in writing, that the Trump Organization has no intention of doing anything improper,” Trump’s lawyer said in a written statement. “This is simply another stunt which Ms. James hopes will aid her failing political campaign.”
And on Wednesday, Trump had blasted the nation’s legal system as a “broken disgrace” after a judge ruled he must answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit lodged by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s.
He also called the 2019 lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, “a hoax and a lie.”
But whether they’re believable or not, it’s undeniable that the number of legal fights Trump is facing since leaving office has been staggering — and may still grow. A Georgia grand jury has also been summoning Trump allies and compelling their testimony, and could also indict the former president.
Trump himself lashed out at the Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena in an interview Thursday.
“The committee is a hoax, a sham, a partisan witch hunt which is a continuation of the witch hunt that has gone on since the great day for our country that I came down the golden escalator with our future first lady,” Trump told Fox News. “They have no case, they have no ratings, so they have to try to do this to get publicity.”
It is unknown if Trump will fight the subpoena and decline to testify. On his social media outlet, he blasted members for not asking him earlier — though he didn’t say he would have complied — and called the panel “a total BUST.”
However, he also shared a post on his Truth Social website where it indicated he “loves the idea of testifying” and would “talk about how corrupt the election was, how corrupt the committee was, and how Nancy Pelosi did not call up the National Guard that Trump strongly recommended for her to do three days earlier on January 3, 2021.”
Trump’s rivals have seemingly been emboldened by the 45th president’s legal fights.
“We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6′s central player,” Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a Trump rival and the committee’s vice chair, said ahead of the vote.
While the committee’s effort to subpoena Trump may languish — it’s more symbolic than an effective summons — the committee also likely plans to add yet another fight to Trump’s court battle: A criminal referral to the Justice Department.
The Associated Press contributed to this article