Trump Attacks 1/6 Select Committee Over Document Request: ‘Executive Privilege Will Be Defended’
Joshua Roberts / Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump attacked the January 6th select committee on Wednesday night over its document request.
The committee is requesting a trove of documents from the Trump White House, asking for “communications within and among the White House and Executive Branch agencies” leading up to January 6.
The select panel is also seeking records relating to attempts to place politically loyal personnel in positions across the government after the election; the planning, organization and response to Jan. 6 and earlier; and attempts to overturn the rule of law and overturn the 2020 election. One segment of the request notably seeks “documents and communications related to the mental stability of Donald Trump or his fitness for office.”
They are also seeking communications involving key Trumpworld figures like Rudy Giuliani, most of the former president’s adult children, Kayleigh McEnany, and Peter Navarro.
Trump put out a statement reacting to the request, attacking the committee as a “partisan shame and waste of taxpayer dollars with a request that’s timed to distract Americans” from President Joe Biden’s leadership on Afghanistan.
“This partisan exercise is being performed at the expense of long-standing legal principles of privilege. Executive privilege will be defended, not just on behalf of my Administration and the Patriots who worked beside me, but on behalf of the Office of the President of the United States and the future of our Nation.”
Trump is vowing to use "executive privilege" — a doctrine that protects the confidentiality of White House communications — to gum up the Select Committee investigation.
(A former president can still sue and make an executive privilege claim in court. It'd be a uphill battle.) pic.twitter.com/OttRvTGeHm
— Jan Wolfe (@JanNWolfe) August 26, 2021
A mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6th after the former president continued pushing false claims and conspriacy theories about the 2020 election. A push to form a special commission failed due to lack of Republican support in the Senate.
