Former Trump White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews on Friday told CNN that she believes it would be a grave mistake for former President Donald Trump to appear before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.
During a discussion with fellow former Trump official Gavin Smith on CNN, Matthews predicted that Trump would likely have a hard time resisting a chance to be in the public spotlight at a publicly televised hearing, but she noted that his lawyers would strongly advise him against it.
"To be honest, I think there's no chance he would, if he had any good lawyers around him, they would advise him not to," she said. "He would like to make a spectacle out of it. But Donald Trump yesterday made a point where he said, 'Why is the committee subpoenaing me now, why didn't it come earlier?' I wish the committee had issued the subpoena a little bit earlier because at this hour there's no reason for him to comply with the subpoena knowing there's a chance the committee won't exist next Congress."
Smith, however, believed the allure of spectacle would be so strong that no lawyer could talk Trump out of it.
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"In my time working for Donald Trump, one thing I learned is, simply, Donald Trump can't avoid a show," he said. "If the committee agrees to carry it on national television, I'm not convinced he wouldn't show up because he could say he had the best ratings, all of the things that Donald Trump likes to say. There's a question of will he, I'm not sure. Does he want to? Yes, I think he does."
Watch the video below or at this link.
Former Trump official: 'Any good lawyer' would tell him to flee Jan. 6 Committee testimonywww.youtube.com
