"Accepting" a subpoena?

“Accepting the subpoena” is a legal term which means signing to say you have received it. It doesn’t mean agreeing to comply with it or that you won’t object to it.

When one is legally served, that person has. in essence, accepted it.

Subpoenas are basically court issued orders that compell a witness to appear, either before a judge or an an attorney of record, and provide testimony or other material evidence under oath. It’s not typically a “voluntary” matter – But subpoenas are not considered valid until they’re legally served on the individual or entity in question.

Occaisionally a potential witness may signal to attorneys that they have useful information, but want to be compelled by a subpoena in order to avoid accusations of bias. But in this case you need to separate the reality of the process from the self-serving murk of Trumpspeak. What the Jerkwad in Chief is actually saying is “Please make me your star witness. I can’t promise I’ll actually help you, but I want the attention”.

You can legally attempt to ‘not accept’ one by filing a motion to quash. You can read about that. Past presidents can use executive privilege as basis for filing such a motion.