Note the threat to go after Biden and his son (who is not part of the administration, btw) after he leaves office. He really didn’t have to say it. Everyone knows that’s what they will do if they can. As for the request for documents, here’s what actually happened:
The House select committee investigating January 6 has stood down on its requests for some documents from the Trump White House after negotiations with the Biden administration.The White House said some of the records the House asked for potentially could concern state secrets or executive privilege because they were part of high-level national security deliberations, according to a letter from the White House counsel’s office released Tuesday. The House said it would “defer” its requests for those records.
Meanwhile, Trump’s D-list legal team really want to keep Trump’s records from the January 6th Committee and they are still throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks:
Former President Trump’s legal team on Wednesday accused the House committee investigating the Capitol riot of seeking to uncover evidence that would support a criminal referral against him.
The brief asked the Supreme Court to consider committee chair Bennie Thompson’s (D-Miss.) interview with the Washington Post as part of its effort to block the release of records to the committee, WashPost reported.
Last week, Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to block the release of documents and records from his administration, arguing that their release would undermine certain presidential special privileges.
In an interview published that same day, Thompson said the select committee was examining Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 as it considers to recommend that the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into Trump.
The select committee is acting as “an inquisitorial tribunal seeking evidence of criminal activity,” Trump lawyer Jesse R. Binnall wrote in the brief, adding that such action is “outside of any of Congress’s legislative powers.”
“The Washington Post has confirmed what was already apparent — the Committee is indeed seeking any excuse to refer a political rival for criminal charges, and they are using this investigation to do so,” Binnall added.
The select committee is expected to file a response to the request to the Supreme Court on Thursday, per the Post.
The idea that the congress can’t investigate something that could end up exposing criminal behavior is just daft. But I guess they believe they can make this argument and Trump’s supreme court will agree and then when House Speaker Marjorie Taylor Green wants to “lock up” Jill Biden, they’ll reinstate congressional prerogatives.
This is Trump’s MO. Just delay, delay, delay, counter-sue, and flood the zone with bullshit. It tends to work politically but I don’t think it will deter the 1/6 Committee from doing its job. Whether the Supremes buy into Trump’s shrill, shrieking arguments remains to be seen.