Former President Donald Trump discussed the Jan. 6 committee subpoena with aides, a report said.
He said he might do it, if it could be broadcast live on TV.
Trump is likely to seek to spin the subpoena into propaganda victories.
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Former President Donald Trump has told aides he might comply with a subpoena to testify before the Jan. 6 committee, as long as he can do so live, The New York Times' Maggie Haberman reported.
According to Haberman, Trump has told aides he's not opposed to the idea of testifying before the committee, as long as it's on his terms.
The information was a contribution by Haberman to The Times's live coverage of Thursday's committee hearing.
Some of his aides appear not to be enthusiastic about the idea.
"He should not," a Trump adviser bluntly told The Daily Beast.
Most witnesses has testified behind closed doors, with the committee presenting clips prepared in advance to play in live hearings.
Those with particularly notable testimony, such as former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, testified live after initially submitting evidence in private.
If Trump testified he would have to do so under oath, risking perjury charges if were to lie.
In a series of live hearings in recent months, the committee has argued that Trump was central to a plot to overturn his election defeat in 2020.
This culminated in the chaos on January 6, when his supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bid to halt Joe Biden's certification as president.
"He is required to answer for his actions," Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the committee said in announcing the subpoena at Thursday's hearing.
Trump has repeatedly characterized the committee as a partisan witch hunt, while continuing to praise the rioters and push the election-fraud conspiracy theories that inspired them.
In a Truth Social Post on Thursday, he described the committee is a "a giant scam, presided over by a group of Radical Left losers, and two failed Republicans."
GOP leadership turned down the opportunity to select members of the party to take part.
Some analysts expect Trump to challenge the subpoena in courts, a process that could take months.
The committee's power to seek legal penalties against a former president if he refuses to comply are unclear. If Republicans win back control of the House in November's midterms they are all but certain to annul the committee and cancel its subpoenas.
Trump is under increasing legal pressure. There are multiple investigations around his bid to overturn the 2020 election, the New York attorney general is probing his business practices in the state, and the FBI is examining his retention of government records after leaving office.
buscoamigos on October 14th, 2022 at 18:39 UTC »
He's creating the narrative so that he can later claim he wanted to cooperate but because of - insert bullshit reason - he can't.
Edit: I give up!
It's because he's under audit!
HobbesNJ on October 14th, 2022 at 18:25 UTC »
He says he wants to testify live, but he will be convinced by lawyers and advisers that it is a bad idea and back out. He'll blame some ridiculous reason and never actually show up, but he'll milk it for all the attention he can.
The committee is smart not to let Trump lead the band here.
Competitive_Shock_42 on October 14th, 2022 at 18:22 UTC »
Remember the debates He will never answer any questions but just keep yelling what he wants for national television. His audience will love it and if he is careful about kind of statements , there is no downside for him