FINAL WITNESS: Guess who the January 6th Committee questioned in their last deposition
The investigation by the House Select Committee on January 6th is wrapping up as they speak to their last scheduled witness on the last day of November. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos had previously tried to fight the Committee’s subpoena but agreed to postpone the arguments in his lawsuit.
Vos says he took a phone call from Donald Trump, in which he was urged to decertify the 2020 election, based on a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling on ballot dropboxes — a ruling which explicitly applies only to future elections, not to 2020.
This phone call came in July, long after the former president had left the White House, his successor had been inaugurated, and investigations into Trump’s election interference were already underway.
When the January 6th Committee subpoenaed Vos, he responded with a lawsuit, seeking to block the order to appear. However, at some point after filing his suit, he reached an agreement with the panel, and arguments in the case, scheduled to begin back in October, were delayed.
Now it seems he’s decided to speak to the Committee, and when they wrap up his testimony on Wednesday, the panel can concentrate their energy on completing their report and determining what, if any, criminal charges to recommend against parties involved in the election interference efforts — up to and potentially including Trump himself. Vos is reportedly the panel’s last scheduled deposition.
“The president called [Vos] and encouraged him to try to get the election changed, and so we just want to see, from the committee’s perspective, if there’s any more information that we can glean from that,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, the panel’s chairman, told reporters Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
WISN, reporting on the call, noted that Trump followed it up with a Truth Social rant, in which he accused Vos of being a “RINO,” or ‘Republican In Name Only,’ and complained that Vos would “be doing nothing about the amazing Wisconsin Supreme Court decision,” and that Democrats would appreciate his “letting them get away with ‘murder.'”
Though Vos was unwilling to comply with Trump’s demands to decertify the 2020 election, he wasn’t unwilling to help the former president spread propaganda.
In August of 2021, he posted a photo of himself on a plane with the ousted ex-president, adding a caption that boasted he had spent the trip discussing efforts to make elections more secure.
It was an honor to be invited to travel by private plane with Pres. Trump to attend his rally in Alabama. I provided him details about our robust efforts to restore full integrity & trust in elections, including our top-to-bottom investigation by Justice Michael Gableman. pic.twitter.com/elIXTR0pju
— Speaker Robin Vos (@SpeakerVos) August 23, 2021
Steph Bazzle covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph.
