Subpoenas, Executive Privilege, and Criminal Contempt: Oh, My!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There was movement this week from the House Select Committee on the Events of January 6th.  The committee created news when it issued four subpoenas to former Trump advisors and administration officials requesting that those individuals present materials relevant to the committee's investigation by October 7th, and appear at depositions on October 14th and 15th.  The lucky recipients of the first round of the committee's subpoenas were former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadow, former White House Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino, and ex-DOD official Kashyap Patel.

Bannon and Patel are scheduled to be deposed on October 14th, and Meadow and Scavino on October 15th.

The committee is also seeking White House correspondence and other materials related to January 6th, much of which is stored with the National Archives and Records Administration, NARA, which is under the control of the executive branch of the federal government.  

Taylor Budowich, a current spokesman for private citizen Trump, referred to the House subpoenas as "Communist-style" and "overboard and lacking merit."

Donald Trump is putting forth a claim of "executive privilege" with regards to the documents and personnel associated with his tenure in office.  One kink in that defensive posture seems to be that he is no longer the executive and therefore not in a position to claim the privilege.  President Joe Biden, who is the executive in charge of the executive branch of government is indicating that he will claim no executive privilege in the matter, and that his administration will cooperate fully with the House Committee.

One recent opinion piece in the press suggested that Trump may head into federal court with a lawsuit ostensibly aimed at keeping the congressional committee from accessing records from his administration which are stored with NARA.  That effort would likely prove futile, but the opinion writer suggested the true aim of such a lawsuit would be to "gum up the legal works" for a time until after the 2022 elections when Republicans might have regained control of the House and could disband the committee - or, in others words, Trump's goal in going to court might be just to try and run out the clock.

There are also strong indications emanating from the four subpoenaed individuals suggesting that they may refuse to honor the subpoenas based on the old boss's claims of executive privilege.  Regarding that eventually, committee chairman Bennie Thompson has stated that criminal contempt charges are not "off the table," and contempt charges could result in those individuals being jailed.

Materials are due in less than two weeks, and depositions are scheduled to be held in less than three weeks.  The clock is ticking.