Donald Trump is overruling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats regarding their biased January 6 Select Committee to investigate the incident at the U.S. Capitol earlier this year.
In a scathing letter, Trump said he will invoke executive privilege to block requests for access to executive branch communications.
The committee is demanding documents from all of Trump’s children (except Tiffany Trump) surrounding January 6.
Trump wasted little time hitting back.
“The Leftist select committee has further exposed itself as a partisan sham and waste of taxpayer dollars with a request that’s timed to distract Americans from historic and global catastrophes brought on by the failures of Joe Biden and the Democrats,” Trump said.
“Unfortunately, this partisan exercise is being performed at the expense of long-standing legal principles of privilege. 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,” he said.
“These Democrats only have one tired trick—political theater—and their latest request only reinforces that pathetic reality,” he added.
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PRESIDENT TRUMP:
“THE LEFTIST “SELECT COMMITTEE” HAS FURTHER EXPOSED ITSELF AS A PARTISAN SHAM AND WASTE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS WITH A REQUEST THAT’S TIMED TO DISTRACT AMERICANS FROM HISTORIC AND GLOBAL CATASTROPHES BROUGHT ON BY THE FAILURES OF JOE BIDEN AND THE DEMOCRATS. PIC.TWITTER.COM/SYRSO6GQ8J
— LIZ HARRINGTON (@REALLIZUSA) AUGUST 26, 2021
AMONG THE VOLUMINOUS REQUESTS, THE COMMITTEE IS SEEKING 9 MONTHS WORTH OF CONTACTS BETWEEN THE TRUMP WH AND THIS GROUP OF OUTSIDERS, INCLUDING ENRIQUE TARRIO, GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS AND JACK POSOBIEC. PIC.TWITTER.COM/XC2NEWBJBP
— KYLE CHENEY (@KYLEDCHENEY) AUGUST 25, 2021
From NPR:
It marks the most widespread list of demands since the siege, directing letters to eight federal entities, including the National Archives and Records Administration, which is charged with maintaining records for past White House administrations. The demands could be followed by subpoenas.
They target communications by Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, and other top officials as well as White House visitor and call logs related to the day of the attack. Other agencies also included in the wave of requests include the Justice, Defense, and Interior departments.
Democrats’ January 6 commission is already starting to backfire.
A recent poll from Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey showed that 58 percent of voters believe her commission is biased towards Democrats.
“Americans want an examination of the riots over the summer and the origins of the virus over investigating Jan. 6th,” co-director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey, Mark Penn, said. “The voters reject the Pelosi move to toss Republicans off of the committee and see it now as just a partisan exercise.”
The poll came after Pelosi would not seat Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks on the committee.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded by removing all of his Republican appointees from the committee, leaving Speaker Pelosi to select two anti-Donald Trump Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, to represent the GOP.
They were appointed, with three other Republicans, by Rep. McCarthy days ago in an effort to cooperate with the Democrat-led committee as he was requested to do.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken the unprecedented step of denying the minority party’s picks for the Select Committee on January 6. This represents an egregious abuse of power and will irreparably damage this institution. Denying the voices of members who have served in the military and law enforcement, as well as leaders of standing committees, has made it undeniable that this panel has lost all legitimacy and credibility and shows the Speaker is more interested in playing politics than seeking the truth,” he said on his website.
“Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts,” he said.
