The White House has ramped up its rhetoric supporting Congress’s attempts to investigate the role played by former President Donald Trump and some of his top administration officials in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Our view, and I think the view of the vast majority of Americans, is that former President Trump abused the office of the presidency and attempted to subvert a peaceful transfer of power, something that had happened between Democratic and Republican presidencies for decades and decades throughout history,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during Tuesday’s briefing. “The former president’s actions represented a unique and existential threat to our democracy that we don’t feel can be swept under the rug.”
TRUMP SUES CAPITOL RIOT COMMITTEE AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Psaki added that White House counsel had previously determined, “the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield information that reflects a clear and apparent effort to subvert the Constitution itself.”
On Monday, the top White House spokeswoman claimed that in addition to using his executive office “to incite an insurrection,” Trump also “put political pressure on senior DOJ officials to propagate lies about the election to the point where they threatened to resign en masse.”
Psaki in particular routinely dodges questions about President Joe Biden’s predecessor, and this slight but noticeable shift comes after Biden himself told reporters that, “yes,” the Jan. 6 Select Committee should prosecute Trump administration officials who defy subpoenas. Critics say that answer violated his past pledge not to interfere in Justice Department business, a claim heavily refuted by senior administration officials.
One such official told the Washington Examiner that Biden’s pledge, delivered when introducing Merrick Garland as his attorney general nominee, was about restoring the DOJ to pre-Trump norms where department officials were allowed to carry out duties not based on pressure from the president but in accordance to legal code.
“That’s exactly what President Biden suggested the other day,” that person continued. “This isn’t about pursuing his own political agenda. This is about preventing future presidents from abusing the office to foment an insurrection.”
“These people tried to undermine the Constitution itself. There need to be consequences,” a second official added.
Meanwhile, Trump himself launched a new effort to fight the investigation into the Jan. 6 riot on Monday. His new lawsuit would block the select committee from receiving any requested executive branch records, including the roughly 125 documents previously cleared by the White House for review. The lawsuit claims the committee’s “sweeping demands” for records are both too broad and unconstitutional. The suit also alleges that executive privilege would shield Trump administration officials from complying with subpoenas issued by the committee, including former top White House adviser Steve Bannon.
“Issued public statements are one thing, but the notion that Congress is somehow entitled to ask for and review any and all private conversations, remarks, or drafts of public statements considered by the President of the United States and his close advisors, without limitations on (among other things) subject matter, would destroy the very fabric of our constitutional separation of powers and invade fundamental privileges designed to maintain the autonomy and functioning of the Executive Branch,” Trump’s team wrote in the complaint.
“The Committee’s request amounts to nothing less than a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition openly endorsed by Biden and designed to unconstitutionally investigate President Trump and his administration,” the suit continues. “Our laws do not permit such an impulsive, egregious action against a former President and his close advisors.”
The suit publicly refers to Trump as the “former” president, something he has avoided during public appearances and statements since leaving office. Trump frequently reminds attendees at his rallies that he “never conceded” and urges Republicans not to vote in future elections if “we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020.”
One former Trump administration official told the Washington Examiner they aren’t sure if the 45th president genuinely believes his lawsuit will actually be able to block the select committee’s investigation or if the action is simply meant to delay the process as much as possible.
The Jan. 6 committee voted to recommend criminal contempt charges for Bannon for Thursday evening.
“The Select Committee believes that this willful refusal to comply with the Subpoena constitutes a violation of federal law,” committee Chairman Bennie Thompson wrote in a letter to Bannon’s attorneys on Friday. “Even if your client had been a senior aide to the President during the time period covered by the contemplated testimony, which he was most assuredly not, he is not permitted by law to the type of immunity you suggest that Mr. Trump has requested he assert.”
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According to select committee staffers, Bannon is the only Trump official refusing to comply with subpoenas or communicate with the committee.
