Donald Trump's Friday night news dump of a lawsuit seeking to quash a subpoena from the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol was dissected by legal analysts.
"The 41-page lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, comes just days before Mr. Trump was scheduled to appear before the panel for a deposition Monday," The New York Times reported. "The suit makes it highly unlikely Mr. Trump will testify before the panel, given that the committee is set to dissolve at the end of this Congress in January. With Republicans on a path to take control of the House, it is all but certain they would not continue the inquiry."
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin posted in a Twitter thread, "while it appeared he was negotiating, Trump only has two modes: litigate or bloviate."
"He has now decided to fight the 1/6 committee’s subpoena — a subpoena for which he already negotiated one extension — in court. But make no mistake: the Bloviator in Chief’s still here," she wrote. "As his acolytes run for the lifeboats and he lashes out at his competitors, Trump understands his popularity rises in proportion to his victimhood. In past months, the more he portrays himself as unfairly hunted, the more they rally to his side and that’s driving tonight’s suit."
"But why would Trump need to file suit at all? The GOP is projected to win the House, ensuring the committee dies, and there just isn’t enough time for it to successfully litigate against him. He could have let the clock run without consequences, no?" Rubin continued. "Is it possible that beyond the political utility of this filing, Trump actually fears a contempt vote?"
"Or maybe worse, that the margin of victory will be so slim that a subpoena to him could be enforced post-January? I’m not sure, but I know this. This lawsuit is not the chess move most expected. And it’s definitely not the move of a player secure in their political standing and/or legal status," Rubin concluded.
After Trump aides suggested he wanted to testify to clear his name, attorney Bradley Moss wrote, "No way, he doesn’t want to testify and show the 1/6 committee how wrong they are? He doesn’t want to show up with boxes of records showing the massive fraud?"
ABC News correspondent Katherine Faulders noted that by filing in the Southern District of Florida (SDFL), the lawsuit could end up before controversial Trump-nominated Judge Aileen Cannon.
"Note that Trump has filed this lawsuit in SDFL - the same district where he filed for a special master in docs case and drew Judge Cannon," Faulders reported.
