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Post by Admin on Oct 6, 2021 19:33:03 GMT
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol can’t find an aide to former President Trump to serve him a subpoena, CNN reports.
The committee has been unable to officially serve a subpoena to Dan Scavino, former White House deputy chief of staff for communications, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the effort.
Scavino was subpoenaed late last month because the panel thinks he may have knowledge around Trump’s activities the day before the riot and his promotion of the “Stop the Steal” rally that took place on Jan. 6 before the attack.
The panel explained at the time that Scavino was reported to have been with Trump on Jan. 5 during a discussion on how to convince members of Congress not to certify the election for President Biden. He also promoted the rally that preceded the riot on Twitter and reportedly tweeted messages from the White House on Jan. 6.
Scavino had been asked to appear at deposition on Oct. 15, along with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was also sent a letter from the panel.
Letters were also sent to former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon and Kashyap Patel, the chief of staff to then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. Bannon and Patel were asked to appear at a deposition on Oct. 14.
Trump praises Pence for criticism of Jan. 6 coverage Pelosi's office denies claims on Trump meeting from Grisham's book Patel has received the subpoena, CNN reported, and the panel appears to have been able to serve subpoenas to Meadows and Bannon.
However, the panel is weighing how to compel cooperation for when some Trump allies refuse to comply, including the threat of holding them in criminal contempt, the outlet reported.
The panel declined to comment to The Hill.
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Post by Admin on Oct 8, 2021 20:26:06 GMT
The White House on Friday formally blocked an attempt by former President Donald Trump to withhold documents from Congress related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, setting up a legal showdown between the current and former presidents over executive privilege.
In a letter to the National Archives obtained by NBC News, White House Counsel Dana Remus rejected an attempt by Trump’s attorneys to withhold documents requested by the House Select Committee regarding the then-president’s activities on Jan. 6, writing that “President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified as to any of the documents.”
“These are unique and extraordinary circumstances,” Remus added. “Congress is examining an assault on our Constitution and democratic institutions provoked and fanned by those sworn to protect them, and the conduct under investigation extends far beyond typical deliberations concerning the proper discharge of the President’s constitutional responsibilities. The constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield, from Congress or the public, information that reflects a clear and apparent effort to subvert the Constitution itself.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki had telegraphed the move two weeks ago, saying President Joe Biden had already concluded that it would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege related to Jan. 6 requests. But White House officials added that they had not yet done so related to requests from the Select Committee, and would make any determinations on a case-by-case basis.
The White House now is authorizing the National Archives to turn over an initial batch of documents that fell under a broad category requested by the committee, covering Trump’s actions and communications on Jan. 6, including his rally at The Ellipse on White House grounds, and subsequent meetings and communications throughout the day.
That request sought everything from Twitter messages, phone and visitor logs, and any videos and photos of events he participated in. It also included documents and communications related to then-Vice President Mike Pence’s movements and security, and broadly any other documents referring to the rally at The Ellipse and the subsequent violent riot at the Capitol, as well as to planning around the ceremonial event of counting of electoral votes during a joint session of Congress.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the National Archives immediately began scouring records in its possession for items responsive to the committee’s request issued in August. It has been producing relevant documents both to Trump’s legal representatives and the Biden White House on a regular basis since then. The specific batch of documents in question were initially produced to both parties on Sept. 8.
A White House official could not characterize what specific documents are included in that set, beyond saying that they will shed light on certain events within the White House on Jan. 6. They said Trump’s representatives concluded that executive privilege should be asserted on some, but not all of the documents. But Biden has concluded privilege does not pertain to any of the records.
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Post by Admin on Oct 21, 2021 19:23:08 GMT
The House will vote on whether to hold Steve Bannon, onetime adviser to former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
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Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2021 22:31:28 GMT
GOP congressman Paul Gosar encouraged pro-Trump rally organizers to plan protests in Washington DC on January 6 by telling them they would get a "blanket pardon" for another, unrelated investigation, according to two of the protest's planners. Gosar had repeatedly assured them of the pardons, to the point where they believed it was a "done deal," they told Rolling Stone in an exclusive released Sunday. Both organizers have been speaking with the congressional committee investigating the US Capitol riots, per Rolling Stone, and were kept anonymous. It is unclear what the original unrelated investigation mentioned by the pair was. In the interview, one organizer said they were given the impression that Gosar spoke to former President Donald Trump about the pardons and that they had been mentioned by name. "They were working on submitting the paperwork and getting members of the House Freedom Caucus to sign on as a show of support," the organizer told Rolling Stone. The two anonymous sources said Gosar told them: "I was just going over the list of pardons and we just wanted to tell you guys how much we appreciate all the hard work you've been doing," according to the outlet. "I would have done it either way with or without the pardon," the organizer told Rolling Stone. "I do truly believe in this country, but to use something like that and put that out on the table when someone is so desperate, it's really not good business," the organizer continued.
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Post by Admin on Nov 10, 2021 4:32:51 GMT
Former President Donald Trump filed an emergency request to a federal judge late Monday night to prevent the National Archives from sending sensitive records to Jan. 6 committee investigators by Friday. And just after midnight, Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected it, contending the request itself was legally defective and “premature.” The unusual exchange, which happened in a span of two hours, comes as Chutkan is already considering an earlier request by Trump to prevent Congress from peering into his White House’s records about his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Trump sued to block the National Archives from turning the records over last month, after President Joe Biden declined to assert executive privilege on his behalf. The Archives indicated it would turn the papers over to lawmakers by Friday, unless a court intervened. Chutkan heard arguments in the suit last week and promised to rule quickly on Trump’s initial emergency request. But she seemed inclined to reject it, questioning the legal basis for a former president to claim executive privilege over records when the sitting president and Congress disagree. The National Archives has indicated that Trump is seeking to block at least 750 pages out of an initial 1,500 unearthed in response to the Jan. 6 committee’s request for records about the former president’s effort to overturn the election. Many of those papers are culled from the files of senior Trump aides like Mark Meadows, Stephen Miller and Patrick Philbin. They also include call and visitor logs. Trump’s attorney, Jesse Binnall, issued his second request Monday night, asking Chutkan to approve an “administrative stay” of her own ruling even before she issued it. That way, Binnall argued, Trump would have a chance to appeal her decision before the Archives began delivering hundreds of pages to congressional investigators. Binnall also warned Chutkan that if she didn’t rule on Trump’s first request by Wednesday, he would go immediately to the appeals court and ask it to step in. He noted that Thursday is Veterans Day and that the National Archives plans to send Trump’s papers to Congress at 6 p.m. Friday.
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