Biden rejects Trump’s Jan. 6 claim
House panel weighs contempt referral against Bannon
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will not block a tranche of documents sought by a House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, setting up a showdown with former President Donald Trump, who has pledged to try to keep records from his time in the White House from being turned over to investigators.
In a letter to the Archivist of the United States, White House counsel Dana Remus writes that Biden has determined that invoking executive privilege “is not in the best interests of the United States.”
This comes days after Trump lawyers sought to block the testimony of former Trump officials to the House committee citing executive privilege.
On Friday, a lawyer for Steve Bannon said the former White House aide won’t comply with the House committee’s investigation because of Trump’s claim.
The committee threatened to pursue criminal charges against Bannon for refusing to comply with its subpoena, announcing it would consider initiating criminal contempt of Congress proceedings.
In a statement after Bannon informed the panel that he would not cooperate in the inquiry, the panel’s leaders said they
would “swiftly consider” the contempt referral.
A committee effort to charge witnesses with contempt would likely involve a vote of the full House and a referral to the Justice Department. It would then be up to Justice how to proceed with charges.
In August, the House committee investigating the January insurrection at the Capitol asked for a trove of records, including communication within the White House under Trump and information about planning and funding for rallies held in Washington. Among those events was a rally near the White House featuring
remarks by Trump, who egged on a crowd of thousands before loyalists stormed the Capitol.
The committee is rapidly issuing subpoenas to individuals who are either connected to Trump or who helped plan the massive rally on the morning of Jan. 6 at which he told his supporters to “fight like hell.”
In the letter, Remus writes that the documents reviewed “shed light on events within the White House on and about January 6 and bear on the Select Committee’s need to understand the facts underlying the most serious attack on the operations of the Federal Government since the Civil
War.”
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter Friday, which was first reported by NBC News.
Copies of the documents responsive to the request were turned over to the Biden White House and Trump’s lawyers for review for potential executive privilege concerns in accordance with federal law and the executive order governing presidential records.
The committee’s 10-page request to the Archives seeks “All documents and communications within the White House on January 6, 2021,” related to Trump’s close advisers and family members, the rally at the nearby Ellipse and Trump’s Twitter feed. It asks for his specific movements on that day and communications, if any, from the White House Situation Room. Also sought are all documents related to claims of election fraud, as well as Supreme Court decisions on the topic.
Biden’s decision affects only the initial batch of documents reviewed by the White House.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said subsequent determinations would be made on a case-by-case basis.
The incumbent president has the final say unless a court orders the Archives to take a different action. Trump has not formally sought to invoke executive privilege over the documents, though that action is expected soon.
Trump is expected to take legal action to block the release of the documents, which if granted, would mark a dramatic expansion of the unwritten executive power.
Trump will have an uphill battle, as courts have traditionally left questions of executive privilege up to the current White House occupant — though the former president’s challenges could delay the committee’s investigation.
Two other witnesses subpoenaed by the panel, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Pentagon aide Kash Patel, are “engaging” with the committee, according to its Democratic chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, and Republican vice chairwoman, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
Thompson and Cheney issued a statement Friday after a deadline for document production had passed.
“Though the Select Committee welcomes good faith engagement with witnesses seeking to cooperate with our investigation, we will not allow any witness to defy a lawful subpoena or attempt to run out the clock, and we will swiftly consider advancing a criminal contempt of Congress referral,” the two lawmakers said.
A spokesman for the panel declined to comment on the status of a fourth witness, former Trump communications aide Dan Scavino.