Trump claims executive privilege on records sought by House Jan. 6

On Aug 26, 2021

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday blasted the “leftist” Jan 6. House Select Committee following its sweeping records request which included call logs from Trump and several former members of his administration.

Trump said the committee has “further exposed itself as a partisan sham and waste of taxpayer dollars,” calling the request “timed” in order to distract Americans from “historic and global catastrophes brought on by the failures of Joe Biden and the Democrats.”

“Unfortunately, this partisan exercise is being performed at the expense of long-standing legal principles of privilege,” Trump said in an emailed statement.

“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. These Democrats only have one tired trick — political theater — and their latest request only reinforces that pathetic reality.”

Supports of former US President Donald Trump force their way into the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 during the ratification of Joe Biden's presidency. — Supports of former US President Donald Trump force their way into the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 during the ratification of Joe Biden’s presidency.

The Committee met for the first time last month to discuss the nature of the January 6, 2021 riot and requested several documents from government agencies.

It is unclear how Trump’s effort to use executive privilege would be conducted.

The former president’s statement came hours after the Select Committee revealed a wide range of records requests from the National Archives and Records Administration and several other agencies.

Among their requests, the Select Committee reiterated several sent in late March by multiple House committees including “all documents and communications relating in any way to remarks made by Donald Trump or any other persons on January 6,” the former president’s Twitter messages from that day, all video or photograph media taken inside the White House on Jan. 6, and all documents and communications from within the White House on Jan. 6 that related to that morning’s rally, the march to the Capitol, violence at the Capitol, Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, and any aspect of Congress’s joint session where the counting of electoral votes took place.

The House select committee has asked several government agencies to turn over communications from within the White House that related to the January 6, 2021 rally.

The 12-page document listed several members of the Trump Administration connected to White House documents and communications from Jan. 6 that the committee is seeking, including but not limited to, Sarah Matthews, Hope Hicks, Mark Meadows, Stephan Miller, Peter Navarro, Kayleigh McEnany, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, Melania Trump, Kimberly…