bottlenecks choking u.s. ports. and bali is back in business. the indonesian island open to tourists after 18 months of pandemic closures. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom. with isa soares. hello, everyone. it is thursday, october 14th. a pivotal day in the congressional investigation of the deadly january 6 insurrection. top aides to former president donald trump are supposed to appear before the house select committee today as well as friday. committee members are making it clear. criminal contempt is the next step if they don t show up. lawmakers want to know what was happening in the trump white house on the day the riots. president joe biden has formally rejected trump s request to shield requested documents through executive privilege. and, excuse me, a former justice department official who pushed the election fraud lie is being called to appear. ryan nobles puts it all into context for you. reporter: the january 6 select committee is making
big lie, the former acting attorney general. the big question today, will any witnesses show up? the former president urged aides to ignore subpoenas. one said overnight he won t show, effectively daring lawmakers to hold him in contempt. cnn s ryan nobles has more from capitol hill. reporter: laura, christine, thursday is a crucial day for the january 6 select committee. today is the day where they are expected to have those first round of closed door depositions from two key trump associates. steve bannon and kash patel. patel the former d.o.d. official, bannon a former white house counselor, someone working outside the administration in the lead up to january 6. the big question is whether either of these men will comply with the subpoena request, and the committee has made it clear that if they don t show up, that they re ready to take serious action to force them to comply, including up to criminal contempt referral which could happen before the end of this week if t