Washington – Amid numerous investigations at county, state, and local levels into his political and economic activity, former President Donald Trump finds himself at the center of a brewing legal fight, this time in the ongoing Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial.
Attorneys for one of the defendants, Joseph Biggs, briefly mentioned in court on Thursday that they had drafted, and hoped to serve, Trump with a subpoena to compel his testimony in the proceedings connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Norm Pattis, a lawyer for Biggs, told the court Trump’s role in the Capitol riot might warrant his presence as a witness for the defense in the case.
According to a copy of the drafted subpoena obtained by CBS News, Biggs’ legal team wants Trump’s compliance by the beginning of next month, but the legal paper has yet to be served to the former president, and no attempt to actually compel his testimony has been made. If it continues to go unsuccessfully delivered, the subpoena will carry no legal weight unless further legal action is taken.
Judge Timothy Kelly — presiding over the trial in which five Proud Boys, including leader Enrique Tarrio, are accused of sedition — has yet to make his position on subpoenaing a former president known, but the Justice Department will likely ask the court to toss the request as irrelevant and inappropriate.
Biggs’ attorneys declined a request for comment.
In the high-profile proceedings that have so far spanned numerous weeks, prosecutors have argued before the jury that the Proud Boys heeded Trump’s calls to oppose Joe Biden’s presidency and violently took to the Capitol grounds in support of the former president. Using their fellow rioters in the mob as a component of their broader conspiracy, the Justice Department alleges, the defendants attempted to use force to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
Defense attorneys have argued Trump’s influence over the Proud Boys’ alleged crimes warrants further examination.
Other Jan. 6 defendants have made similar attempts to call Trump as a witness, to no avail, after judges and prosecutors alike opposed the moves. Last year, an Ohio man tried to argue Trump’s speech near the White House authorized his actions. Dustin Thompson was convicted by a jury after less than three hours of deliberation and later sentenced to three years in prison.
Like those of defendants before them, the efforts by Biggs’ attorneys on Thursday face numerous legal hurdles that will likely hinder their ability to successfully secure Trump’s testimony.
