Former President Donald Trump has sued the House select committee on the Jan. 6th attacks after it subpoenaed a number of his top former advisors and demanded White House documents from the National Archives.
Trump’s suit, filed Monday in US District Court, names as defendants both the committee itself and archivist David Ferriero.
The filing claims the committee ‘has decided to harass President Trump and senior members of his administration (among others) by sending an illegal, unfounded, and overbroad records request to the Archivist of the United States.’
His suit mirrors his posture during previous congressional probes while he was in office and ordered top officials not to participate.
His legal standing now is somewhat different; President Joe Biden and his administration have said they will not assert executive privilege, and in public statements have repeatedly spoken to the importance of the Jan. 6th probe.
Last week saw deadlines for former top aides to testify under subpoena. Trump’s lawyer had told the officials he intended to assert privilege.
Lawmakers are threatening to hold witnesses, including former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon, in criminal contempt if they fail to appear or provide documents.
The filing also attacks President Biden, saying he ‘refused’ to exert privilege over document requests – following the panel’s sweeping requests for records related to events at the White House Jan. 6th, as well as in the days leading up to the riot, which took place as Congress met to count the electoral votes that made Biden president.
‘The request also seeks records with no reasonable connection to the events of that day. In a political ploy to accommodate his partisan allies, President Biden has refused to assert executive privilege over numerous clearly privileged documents requested by the Committee,’ according to the filing. ‘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. Our laws do not permit such an impulsive, egregious action against a former President and his close advisors.’
The filing blasts a request for information on all of Trump’s remarks on Jan. 6th – amid press reports of internal debates as advisors pleaded with him to tell his supporters to go home after the Capitol was breached.
‘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,’ according to Trump’s suit.