Trump’s lies will lead us to the truth (Opinion)
Trump responded with a threat to fight the committee by invoking executive privilege, but as one who fought him over that issue in his first impeachment in 2020, I’m optimistic that the committee will get the information it needs.
The committee’s far-reaching demands for information to the executive branch and to non-governmental entities alike represent a classic investigative technique. Whether it’s a criminal, civil, or congressional matter, you must get all the records, study the patterns, and see what emerges.
The very first thing we did when we kicked off the investigation in the initial impeachment of Trump was issue more than 80 demands for information to entities and individuals — and the facts of Trump’s assault on the 2020 election and its certification are even more far-flung. For instance, Trump’s alleged obstruction of the Mueller investigation principally centered on a handful of aides at the White House and Department of Justice, whereas his alleged election wrongdoing encompassed multiple federal agencies and even reached into the states.
The executive privilege stonewalling that Trump could order while in office won’t work anymore. The congressional requests have been made to agencies led by officials appointed by President Joe Biden. They and the career professionals who will process the asks can be expected to comply.
The Biden administration has already staked out the general position that executive privilege does not apply.
The administration has waived executive privilege and allowed former Trump administration officials to provide testimony to Congress about the ex-president’s attacks on the 2020 election and its certification. The US Department of Justice correctly reasoned that the “extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances … [and] the congressional need for information outweighs the Executive Branch’s interest in maintaining confidentiality.”
Oral testimony is typically the most sensitive when it comes to privilege, more so than documents. That’s not to say that the current administration will completely waive the privilege for every one of the documents in the sweeping requests, but it’s a clue that Biden will turn over a lot.
The usual caution of administrations of both parties when it comes to executive privilege is less likely to prevail here. The events were so extraordinary and exceptional that there is less than usual risk of a precedent being created that can come back and be used against this or future administrations. Biden clearly is not likely to falsify an unquestioned election outcome or incite insurrection against his own government.
There could of course still be litigation by Trump to challenge the committee’s authority to seek information. It is true that his lawyers did not attempt to stop his former officials’ testimony, although the lawyers did claim that the former president was not waiving executive privilege. But just because Trump has not gone to court yet…