Biden won’t block documents from probe
Post-Gazette wire services
WASHINGTON — Congress’s quest for definitive answers about what led a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6 appears headed for a historic showdown between the former president and his successor in the White House.
The battle lines became more clear Friday, when President Joe Biden rejected Mr. Trump’s request to block documents from the House committee investigating the insurrection, citing the gravity of the assault on democracy.
“The president’s dedicated to ensuring that something like that could never happen again, which is why the administration is cooperating with ongoing investigations,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
Mr. Trump swiftly responded by formally claiming executive privilege over about 50 documents requested initially by the select committee and issuing a statement calling Democrats “drunk on power” and insisting that “this assault on the constitution and important legal precedent will not work.”
Meanwhile, urged on by Mr. Trump, his longtime adviser Stephen Bannon told the committee he will not comply with the panel’s sweeping request for documents and testimony.
Members of the committee responded with a threat Friday to pursue criminal charges against Mr. Bannon for refusing to comply with its subpoena, announcing they would consider initiating contempt of Congress proceedings. The panel’s leaders said they would “swiftly consider” a criminal contempt referral, raising the prospect of what could be a prolonged legal battle over what may be crucial evidence in the investigation.
The committee has ordered four former Trump administration officials — Mr. Bannon; Mark Meadows,
White House chief of staff; Dan Scavino Jr., a deputy chief of staff; and Kash Patel, a Pentagon chief of staff — to sit for depositions and furnish documents and other materials relevant to its investigation.
Mr. Meadows and Mr. Patel have had some communication with the committee, according to the joint statement issued Friday by Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the committee’s chair, and Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair. Mr. Scavino had not been served the subpoena until Friday, Politico reported.
In a letter to the panel Thursday, Robert Costello, Mr. Bannon’s lawyer, informed the committee that his client would not comply. Mr. Costello said Mr. Bannon was abiding by Mr. Trump’s directive for his former aides and advisers facing subpoenas to invoke immunity and refrain from turning over documents that might be protected under executive privilege.
“It is therefore clear to us that since the executive privileges belong to President Trump, and he has, through his counsel, announced his intention to assert those executive privileges enumerated above, we must accept his direction and honor his invocation of executive privilege,” Mr. Costello wrote.
In their statement, the leaders of the select committee rejected Mr. Bannon’s rationale for stonewalling their investigation.